Fire In The Streets
by khriku29
Summary: Raxmi lives in Twilight Town, and she REALLY needs a job. Her friends in Seifer's gang try to help her out when they can, but soon she could be living on the streets. Although, it's pretty hard to get hired when you've got a bad reputation. Then she runs into a certain redhead, and suddenly her future looks a little brighter.
1. Work Wanted

Seifer nearly toppled over as I jumped onto his back, my long brown hair swinging around and my sleeves riding up, revealing my pale skin. "Get off me, lamer!" he yelled, trying to push me off. I can't blame him, really. People don't tend to suddenly jump onto each other in the Sandlot.

"Don't yell at me, Seifer!" I complained as I slid off. "This day's been bad enough as it is!"

His rage faded away as he turned around and realized who had jumped on him. "Raxmi, give me word of warning next time, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled sadly, looking down at the ground.

"Hey, stop pouting," he said cheerfully, and punched my shoulder lightly. "You're too old for that now, miss sixteen-year-old. By the way, happy birthday!"

"Sad?" Fuu said as she joined Seifer.

"You should be out celebrating, not moping, ya know?" Rai agreed.

"Party," Fuu added.

I smiled as Seifer let me jump on his back again. "I would, if I could afford to do _anything_! I can't do anything fun, all I can do is hang out with you guys!"

"And that's not fun?" Seifer gasped, pretending to be offended. That made me laugh. Seifer always acts so tough around everyone, except with me. It's like he's not afraid to show emotion when I'm around.

I suppose that's because we've been close friends ever since he stopped another kid from beating me up when I was ten. I'm practically a magnet for bullies - poor, smart, and unable to fight back. The perfect target, right? But luckily Seifer always chased them off before things got too bad.

He's always been like a brother to me, which is great, because living alone with a dad who does nothing but drink and watch TV, only working when he feels like it, can get really lonely. I had to drop out of school when I was fourteen because I couldn't afford it, my dad wouldn't pay, and I couldn't get a scholarship. So Seifer takes down notes in class, explains stuff he learned to me as best as he can (which isn't that well), and lets me do his homework for him. And occasionally he and Rai and Fuu loan me munny. But since they're pretty stingy and I feel uncomfortable taking other people's charity, that doesn't happen very often.

But lately things have gotten worse. My dad, who only earns just enough to pay the mortgage, told me last week that I need to starts paying for rent and food, or he'll kick me out. And how can I do that when I can't even find a job? No one else know about that, though. I haven't told my friends yet. '_It's so unfair,' _I thought to myself. '_Just because I used to be bad, no one trusts me enough to give me a job! That, and those kids in Hayner's gang ALWAYS snag them first! I don't steal stuff anymore! Well, kinda...'_

"Don't be so down! We can help you out, ya know?" Rai said.

"Problem?" Fuu asked.

I decided I might as well tell them. "I need a job, or my dad will kick me out. But most -"

"WHAT?" Seifer and Rai said. Fuu just looked shocked. "When did he say that?" Seifer asked.

"A little more than a week ago," I replied, absently mindedly noticing how the leaf blowing along the ground matched my green eyes perfectly. I was tempted to scoop it up and fix it in my hair. "But most people won't hire me just because I used to steal stuff when I was younger -"

"Screw them, Raxmi! They don't know who you really are now!" Seifer said.

"There's that, and the people who would give me a chance don't give me the job, because Hayner's gang always gets to them first!"

"WHAT?" Seifer yelled again, letting go of me, which made me fall to the ground with a thud. "Careful!" I moaned.

"Those lamers have been getting in your way? Why didn't you tell me?" he demanded.

"I knew you'd get angry, then you'd want to go and fight them, and then people would get hurt!" I explained.

He growled and started storming away, with Rai and Fuu following behind. "Seifer, where are you going?" I asked warningly.

"Teaching them a lesson!" Seifer and Rai said simultaneously.

"Payback," Fuu added, without turning around.

I ran up to them and held Seifer back by the collar. "Oh, no you don't!"

"Raxmi! Let go!" he commanded. "I'm head of the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee - if people are standing in the way of another person's well-being, it's my job to deal with them! I can't slack off!"

"Well, it's nice to know you're going after them just for me," I said dryly.

He shook me off easily and ran down the street. "You've got the grip of a girl, Raxmi!"

"I AM a girl!"

**A/N: Yay! Finally posted it! :D Yes, it's short, BUT I'd written quite a bit more. I've decided to split it into two chapters, so Chapter 2 will be up soon!**


	2. The New Target

**A/N: WHOA! This is the fastest update I've EVER done! :D I know most of this chapter is centred around Seifer and Raxmi, but Axel IS introduced in this chapter, yay! And after this there'll be more focus on him :) Just to make it clear, Seifer and Raxmi do NOT "like" each other, and they never will! He's more like an older brother for her. Okay? Great! Enjoy!**

They didn't need to go very far: Hayner, Olette, and Pence were standing around in the Back Alley, about to go to their Usual Spot. Despite my begging (which Seifer is almost immune to) and my threats (which I could never carry out), Seifer was determined to give Hayner a piece of his mind. '_Forget that, he's going to give him a piece of his fists!'_

"Hey! Lamers!" Seifer called out, marching up to them. Fuu and Rai stood behind him, arms crossed, glares deathly. Then again, Rai has so much muscle, he _always_ looks deadly!

The other group turned around to face them. "What do you want, Seifer?" Hayner asked, scowling. "Did we break one of your 'rules' again?"

Seifer shoved Hayner into the wall, and Pence exclaimed, "What was that for?"

He turned around and pointed a finger at the boy. "You people have been taking all the jobs in town!"

"Yeah, so what?" Hayner demanded. "You don't control who does what to earn munny!"

"It's not fair on Raxmi, ya know?" Rai pointed out.

"Needs munny." Fuu said.

"What are you talking about?" Hayner asked.

"Guys, stop it..." I started to say.

Seifer shook his head dramatically and sighed. "Man, we really have to put things in baby-talk for you, don't we?" he said, then held up a fist. "Raxmi's like a sister to me, and you lamers are making _her_ life harder just because you want jobs to buy 'bawwons' and 'wollipops' and to go to the beach to play and make sand castles!"

"We don't talk like that!" Pence argued, and Olette facepalmed.

"'Making her life harder? You don't know what you're talking about!" Hayner said. "The only reason why Raxmi can't get a job is because people don't trust her. And _that's_ because she's just a common thief!"

"Hayner!" Pence and Olette said, shocked.

'_Please don't tell him, please don't tell him, please don't tell him,'_ I thought, attempting to send a telepathic message to Hayner. Obviously that wasn't going to get me anywhere.

Enraged, Seifer grabbed Hayner by his shirt and held up a fist. "Say that again!"

"Stop it, Seifer!" I said, going forward to pull him away, but Fuu and Rai held me back. "Blondie's getting what he deserves, ya know?" Rai told me. "They can't mess with you and get away with it!"

Hayner sneered at Seifer and said slowly, "She's. Just. A. Common. Thief."

Seifer growled and punched him in the face, but luckily I broke free from my friends and blocked his next hits. Okay, 'blocked' is a bit exaggerated. I pulled his beanie over his eyes so that he couldn't see. "Hey! Raxmi, I know that was you!" Seifer groaned, loosening his grip on Hayner as he readjusted his beanie with one hand.

Hayner took that chance to break free and push Seifer away, with Pence and Olette running to his side. "You don't believe me? She stole someone's wallet the other day; I saw her," Hayner said, pointing at me.

"Of course you did," Seifer sneered, shielding me with one arm, as if to protect me from his accusation. "Did you see her breaking into the candy store as well?"

"Seifer, don't -" I tried to say.

"She did!" Hayner insisted. "I wasn't going to tell, because Olette said not to, but she did! She was tailing a guy in the Market Place, and she took his wallet straight out it his pocket and ran off. The guy didn't even notice! And Raxmi _knows_ that we saw, because we chased after her, but she got away before we could catch up."

"That's bull!" Rai yelled out.

Seifer laughed dryly and turned to me. "Tell them what a load of bogus that is, Raxmi!"

I looked down at the ground, feeling guilty. "I...I was..."

"Raxmi?" He tilted my head up to look me in the eyes. "He's making it up...right?"

I bit my lip anxiously and tried to avoid his piercing gaze. "My dad was telling me to give him cash that day as a head start on the rent. He said he'd kick me out if I didn't...I knew that man in the Market Place had a lot of munny, because I saw him counting it. You guys were complaining a lot that day about how your allowances were going down; I didn't want to ask you for it..."

"I would've loaned you the munny!" Seifer yelled, startling me. "Hell, I would've _given_ it to you, all you had to do was ask me! You're like my sister, and you thought I wouldn't help you out? I can't believe you'd do this, Raxmi! You broke our promise!"

"Seifer, I'm sorry..."

He pushed past me roughly and stalked angrily out of the alley. "That was low, ya know?" Rai said, frowning at me before following Seifer.

Fuu glared accusingly at me. "Liar," she said, and walked out as well. I stood there, watching them go, my eyes filling up with tears. "I'm sorry..." I whispered, even though they couldn't hear me. I had no idea Seifer had even remembered the promise after so long. I certainly do...

* * *

***Flashback three years ago***

"Raxmi, you stole again?" Seifer asked me, looking at the necklace dangling limply in my hand.

"I'm sorry," I said, toying with the plastic necklace. "But Seifer, it's so pretty..." I saw it in the general store this morning and asked for it, but daddy yelled at me that I didn't need a piece of junk around my neck, that it wasn't going to pay the bills. Every other twelve year old girl my age has heaps and heaps of necklaces, with loads of sparkly jewels and pendants on silver chains. I only wanted this small, cheaper one. Was that so much to ask?

He sighed, and I could see the disappointment in his eyes. "What did I tell you?"

"'Stealing is wrong'," I mumbled.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out some munny. "I tell you what," he said, slinging an arm around my shoulders. "I'll buy the necklace for you, okay?"

I gasped and stared up at him. "R-really?"

"But ONLY," he held up a finger, "if go back to the store with me and apologize, and you have to promise me never to steal again."

"Never?" I repeated.

"Raxmi, this is the fourth thing you've stolen this week. I can't even count how much you've taken this month! If you keep this up, no one's ever going to trust you!"

"No one?" '_All these one-word answers - Fuu would be proud...'_

"Please, Raxmi?" Seifer squeezed my shoulders. "It'll be for your own good."

I looked down at the necklace again.

"I know!" he said suddenly. "We'll start a committee!"

"What kind of committee?" I said excitedly. Seifer usually gets ideas like these. They don't always last long, but they're still fun.

He swept his arm dramatically in the air, to highlight his own words. "It'll be called 'The Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee'!"

"It sounds scary," I commented.

"It'll be fun, Raxmi!" he reassured me. "We'll stop crimes and make sure people follow the law. And people will respect us and they'll look up to us and say, 'Hey, those are the kids help the people of Twilight Town do the right deeds! They're an inspiration!"

I liked that idea. Besides Seifer, Fuu, and Rai, no one respects me. And nobody's ever looked up to me before! "And I can be in it?" I asked hopefully. I can't fight or put people in line at all, but maybe the Twilight Town Disciplinary Committee would need a secretary or something?

"Sure! You can be the undercover agent - watching the people and telling me when they do bad stuff!"

My eyes widened at this. That sounded so cool! "Let's do it then!" I cheered.

"But first, you have to promise me that you won't steal again," Seifer said sternly. "You can't be on a committee to stop people from breaking the law if you _are_ breaking the law."

"Oh, I promise!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! I promise, I swear, I pledge, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die!" I made the classic 'X' sign on my heart and held up one hand like I was taking an oath. "I'll never ever steal again!"

Seifer grinned and held up his pinkie, and I curled mine around his. "It's a promise!" we chorused.

***End of flashback***

* * *

Seifer _did_ buy me that necklace, but the storekeeper kept giving me the evil eye, although I apologized, and I wasn't allowed back there for a while. No one believed me when I said that I'd never steal again - even Rai and Fuu had been a bit wary at first. Seifer was the only one who believed in me, and that was all I needed to change. Like he'd said, I'd been the 'undercover agent' ever since we started the Committee. Now I'd let him down.

"'Broke our promise?' What did that mean?" Olette asked.

"When I was twelve, I made a promise to Seifer. I told him I'd never steal again," I said, looking up at them. Pence and Olette looked upset; Hayner still looked angry.

"So not only did you steal, but you broke a promise to your best friend? Man, that's low!" he said.

"Hayner, stop it!" Pence told him.

"It's okay, I deserve that," I said. I gestured towards the bruise that was forming on the side of Hayner's face. "I tried to stop him from coming here because I'd knew he'd start a fight. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

The surprised showed on his face when I said this and he calmed down, shaking his head. "That's alright, I said some pretty harsh things to you, so I was pretty much asking for it," he muttered.

"You should go catch up with Seifer," Olette said, smiling at me.

I smiled back and ran out of the alley, knowing where he'd be.

* * *

In the Sandlot, Seifer, Rai, and Fuu were discussing something, huddled in a circle. When I walked up to them, they went silent and stared at me. I couldn't tell what Rai and Fuu were thinking, but Seifer looked more disappointed than angry. It was the same look he'd given me three years ago. "I didn't know you'd still remembered the promise," I said shyly.

"Of course I did!" Seifer said, frowning. "I think about it every time we fight crime!"

"I know saying sorry isn't enough to make up for letting you down, but I really am," I said, wishing I could say something more than that to let him know how horrible I felt. "If it makes it any better, that was the first time I'd stolen since back then."

He loosened up a little. "Really?"

"Really." I made a cross over my heart. "Cross my heart and hope to die."

Seifer's mouth twitched up a little at the childish move. "But you don't believe me, do you?" I asked. I pulled a little munny out of my pocket and showed it to him. "I was gonna use this to buy lunch, but do you think that man would appreciate it if I gave it to him?"

Rai and Seifer laughed, and even Fuu smiled. "That's probably not going to make much of a difference," Seifer grinned. "Besides, do you even know who he is?"

"Well, no..."

Seifer hesitated a little before wrapping his arms around me quickly and letting go a second later. He's told me many times that he's 'too manly for hugs'. "I'll always believe you Raxmi, no matter what you do," he said gruffly.

I smiled happily and hugged him, laughing when he groaned in annoyance. We didn't need to say that I wouldn't steal again - we both knew it anyway. "We believe you too, ya know?" Rai grinned, clapping me hard on my back.

"Forgiven," Fuu confirmed.

"We're going to find out who that man was, though, and you'll have to pay him back, got it?" Seifer added.

I nodded_, _trying to think of a place that might hire me.

"Now that that's cleared up, we can tell you about the Disciplinary Committee's current focus!" Seifer said. "There's been this guy wandering around town, and I've never seen him before. Sometimes he goes up to the clock tower, for who knows what! And he's always lurking around when chaos starts."

"So we need you to check him out, follow him around, keep an eye on him for two or three weeks, ya know?" Rai finished.

"I'll do my best!" I said, running off to find this mysterious man.

"Raxmi, wait! You don't know what he looks like!"

I walked back, rubbing my neck awkwardly. "Heh...oh yeah. What does he look like?"

Seifer shook his head, looking amused. "According to Rai, he's tall, skinny, has bright red hair, green eyes, and marks under his eyes, always wears this long-as black leather coat with a hood, and he's a few years older than us, apparently. Rai heard him talking to somebody, and he's pretty sure his name starts with an 'A'. He last saw him in the Tram Common. _Now_ go and track him down!"

Saluting him, I said, "Yes sir!" and ran off to the Tram Common.

* * *

'_I'm never going to find this guy!'_ I thought to myself, walking down a street desolately. I'd been wandering around the Tram Common for nearly two hours, trying to find someone who matched the description. Then, I went to the Market Place, thinking that maybe he went there. Unfortunately, he wasn't. After another two hours, I'd gone through the Tunnels, even though Seifer had said the person was a few years older than us, meaning he probably wouldn't be there. So I've been going around every other section of Twilight Town, but there was no sign of him!

_ 'What is he, a chameleon? A wizard with the ability to blend into walls? A man with an invisibility cloak? Actually, that last one could be possible...'_

"Focus, Raxmi!" I said to myself, hitting my head. Like that would stop me from thinking!

The only other place he could be is the Haunted Woods. Bleugh. I hate going there! It's so dark and creepy and dark and cold and dark and damp and dark...But there's nowhere else he could be! Unless he just happened to walk down the street this very moment? '_No way! With my luck, he probably lives in a tree house in the Haunted Woods eating spiders to survive with severed heads decorating the entrance and a bed made of slime and webs...urgh, shut UP, imagination!'_

"Why don't you just pay someone to do it for you if you're too lazy to do it yourself?" a voice asked from around the corner.

"Oh, I'd pay _anyone_ to work for me today! But what, I'm supposed to just walk up to the first person I see and say, 'Hey, do you want a job'?"

Curiosity overtook me, and I ran around the corner to see who this person could be. Maybe he'd hire me after I find this mysterious person!

_Smack!_ Of course, I ran straight into the person, whoever he was. Next to him, another guy started laughing.

The man helped me up and dusted himself off. "Are you alright?" he asked, and I nearly melted at the sound of his voice. '_He sounds so hot!'_

'_Whoa, he IS hot. How red can your hair get? It looks so good though! And his eyes, WOW! Wait a minute...is it...THIS IS MY TARGET! FINALLY! AND HE'S SO DAMN SEXY!'_

"Miss? Are you okay?" the boy next to him asked. But I was too busy adoring the guy in front of me to notice, and thanking heaven and earth for sparing me from going into the Haunted Woods.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer," the man chuckled, patting my shoulder and walking past me.

'_Hey! Get back here with my job, random hot target!'_

"Wait up!" I called out, running to catch up with them. What better way to keep an eye on my target that to work for him?

They turned around, and the man raised an eyebrow. "Can we help you?" he asked smoothly.

"I heard you saying that you'd pay anyone to do your work for you," I said. "Would you pay me?"

He and the blonde boy looked surprised. "Well, since you want to, sure!" the man said.

"YES! Thank you!" I cheered.

"Wait, you're not serious, are you?" the blonde boy asked him. "Do you know how much trouble you'll get in if Saix finds out you didn't do the work yourself?"

'_Saix? What a funny name! I think I'd name a dog Saix, if I had one! It's the perfect name for a puppy!'_

The man waved a hand. "Relax, Roxas! He'll never find out!"

"Yeah, he'll never find out!" I echoed, not having a clue what they were talking about.

"Don't worry, we're not going to get into trouble," the man said, grinning.

"Good enough for me!" I said. '_Now I can earn munny AND stop him from committing crimes! If he IS committing crimes, anyway.'_ "I'm Raxmi! What's your name!"

"I'm Roxas!" The blonde boy waved.

The tall man pointed to his forehead. "The name's Axel, got it memorized?"


	3. The Shadows

**RECAP:**

"Don't worry, we're not going to get into trouble," the man said, grinning.

"Good enough for me!" I said. '_Now I can earn munny AND stop him from committing crimes! If he IS committing crimes, anyway.'_ "I'm Raxmi! What's your name?"

"I'm Roxas!" The blonde boy waved.

The tall man pointed to his forehead. "The name's Axel, got it memorized?"

**STORY STARTS:**

"So who's Saix?" I asked them as we walked down the street.

"He's Number Se - OW!" Roxas glared at Axel, who had kicked him in the leg.

"Saix is a friend of ours, and he asked us to do this job for him," Axel said smoothly.

"By the way, you do realize you just signed up for a job and you don't even know what it is, right?" Roxas pointed out.

I mentally slapped myself as I thought of this. I'd been so excited about getting a job _and_ watching my target at the same time, I had no clue as to what I was supposed to be doing for him! '_What if he IS breaking the law, and he wants me to do something illegal?_' I thought. '_Darn it!'_ I could practically hear Seifer telling me for the millionth time about how I should think before I act.

"Heh. Well it can't be too bad, right?" I said nervously.

"Of course not!" Axel reassured me.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "Don't trust him, Raxmi," he smiled. "I'll be helping you anyway, so if there's anything difficult to do, I'll take care of it!"

"_Or_ you could just do all the work for me!" Axel suggested.

"No way! Do you know how boring these sort of jobs get? I'm not doing it alone!"

"Okay then..." I said, seriously reconsidering my decision. "What do I have to do?"

Axel cracked his knuckles and grinned at me. "Well, first of all, can you fight?"

"Um...I guess so?" '_This is going to be tough!' _At least Seifer had taught me the basics of fighting, both hand-to-hand and with a with a struggle bat, and he makes me spar with me sometimes. It's not really sparring though - more like me running all over the place trying to jump around Seifer's bat to avoid being hit.

"Got a weapon?"

"I have a struggle bat!" I said, hoping that would be good enough.

Roxas and Axel looked at each other. "Do you think a struggle bat is enough to take out Heartless?" Roxas whispered.

"Probably not. We'll have to see, won't we?" Axel muttered back.

"Axel! If she's not armed properly, she could get hurt!"

Now I was getting kinda freaked out. "W-what are Heartless?" I stammered quietly.

Either they didn't hear me or they were just ignoring me for the time being. "We don't have to worry about that, it's just recon! There probably won't even be any Heartless around," Axel said to Roxas.

"And if there are?"

"Then we'll tell her to leave."

"What are Heartless?" I repeated, a little louder.

"What if she tells someone?" Roxas asked incredulously.

"We'll just tell her not too!"

'_Maybe this was a bad idea,'_I thought. "What are Heartless?" I said in my normal volume.

They _still_ didn't pay any attention to me. "Sure, because _that_ stops somebody from telling people about Heartless!"

"So we'll give her a binding contract, then? What do you want me to do?"

"You could do your own work, for starters..."

"WHAT ARE HEARTLESS?" I yelled. They both jumped; I think they actually forgot I was there.

Axel rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Don't worry about it, Raxmi," he said warmly. "If we see any, you can go home with the five thousand munny, and Roxas will take care of them."

'_Five thousand? Maybe this WASN'T a bad idea!' _"But what _are_ they?" I asked once again, after I got over my surprise.

This time it was Roxas who said, "It's not really important right now. What's important is that if we do run across them, then you mustn't tell anyoneabout it, okay?"

I narrowed my eyes at this, but agreed anyway. "Fine then. Now can you please tell me what I'm supposed to be doing?"

"It's simple, really," Axel said. "All you have to do is go with Roxas and explore the Haunted Woods for anything suspicious!"

'_Yup. Really bad idea._'

* * *

After fetching my Struggle bat from my house, Roxas and I went to the hole in the wall of the Tram Commons. And Axel? I'm not sure what he was doing, actually. When I got my struggle bat he ran off down the street flapping his arms yelling, "I'm free! I'm free like a bird!" Roxas had just shook his head and told me not to worry about him, he would probably just be going around the Tram Common.

Roxas walked into the hole confidently, but I hung back for a few seconds. "Aren't you coming?" he asked.

I gulped and walked in after him, immediately being submerged in nearly complete darkness. "Five thousand munny, five thousand munny, five thousand munny," I chanted under my breath as I followed Roxas around, trying to ignore the chilling feeling that something was going to jump out and attack me from behind.

"W-what exactly are we looking for?" I said nervously.

"Anything that seems out of the ordinary," Roxas replied, scanning the area as he walked.

"Then why couldn't Axel do this himself?"

"Oh, he's just lazy. And these sort of jobs are really boring, so he can't be bothered. Sometimes he gets me to do them for him, but this time I told him if he wanted to get out of it, he should pay someone..."

"And that's when I ran into you!" I finished.

"Pretty much!"

"So this Saix person will be angry when he finds out that Axel didn't do his job?"

"Axel won't tell him!"

I still wasn't sure whether or not this was safe, but I was too excited at the idea of earning five thousand munny for wandering around the Haunted Woods to change my mind. I lost track of time as Roxas and I searched the woods, and my fear of the dark started to fade away. Then we heard a rustling sound behind one of the trees. Roxas whipped around, half-shielding me. Something long and shiny appeared in his hands as he crept up towards the tree. '_Is that...a giant key?'_

He leapt behind the tree and slashed at whatever was there, and something glittery and pink floated into the air. "What's going on?" I asked.

"Raxmi, you better leave," Roxas said, and I noticed the shadows surrounding us were starting to move.

"But I thought you wanted help if -"

"GO! Now! I'll be fine!" he interrupted, slashing at something else. "Just go find Axel and tell him I'll meet up with him as soon as I can!" The shadows weren't just moving now; they seemed to be making their way to me. I don't even know how I remembered the way out as I ran, all I had on my mind was to get out of there!

Soon I emerged out onto the street, gasping for breath and wincing when the sunlight hit my eyes. Now that I was out of danger, I felt terrible for leaving Roxas in there, even though he was the one who insisted that I should leave. I didn't wait before running again, to the Tram Commons.

Luckily the Tram Commons weren't as busy as usual, and it was easy to spot Axel's flaming red hair in the window of one of the weapon stores. I went in and saw him talking to the man at the counter. When the man saw me, he glared and slammed his cash register shut, locking it. "You're not allowed in here!" he snapped.

I rolled my eyes and dragged Axel outside. "Hey babe! What was that about?" he said casually, leaning against the wall. "Where's Roxas at?"

"He's still in the forest," I informed him. "Axel - the shadows were _moving_!"

He straightened up, an alarmed look on his face. "Moving?" he repeated.

"And Roxas had this key...thing! He told me to tell you that he'd up with him as soon as he..." I trailed off as Axel started to walk away. "Hey where are you going?" I said, jogging to catch up with him.

"To go help him!" he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Do you need more help?" I asked.

He shook his head, stopping in the middle of the street. "No, we'll be fine. You don't need to come with me." He reached into his pocket and tossed a pouch into my hands, smiling at me. "Thanks for your help!"

I stared at the pouch for a moment and then looked back up. "But what were those...things..."

He'd already left.

I glanced around nervously as I re-entered the Haunted Woods. At first I was going to keep the munny and go home, but then I remember that I was supposed to be following Axel. That's why I had to back to the woods to see what he was doing. It seemed really suspicious that he'd be so eager for someone to do his work for him, and then just throw the munny at them and leave!

I heard a lot of noise coming from deep inside the woods, and a strange amount of orange light. '_What if they're trying to burn the woods down?' _I thought, running to see what was going on.

There, I nearly had a heart attack when I saw Axel was on fire! But then I looked closer, and I saw that he wasn't in pain or screaming for Roxas to save him or doing the stop-drop-and-roll thing; in fact, he was flinging the fire at the shadows surrounding him. He had circles of fire spinning around his hands, and then I noticed that they were weapons -chakrams, by the looks of it. Pillars of fire kept springing up from the ground and throwing the shadows into the air, where Roxas was hitting them with his key...thing.

I finally paid more attention to the fact that they were fighting shadows. It was like they were coming to life, with glowing yellow eyes and long, skinny antenna on their heads. Axel and Roxas had nearly killed them all. Suddenly the last few shadows sank into the ground and crawled over to me, rising up again and trying to climb up my legs. I screamed and Axel spun around, his eyes widening when he saw me. Before I could blink, fire engulfed the shadows.

"Why did you come back?" Axel said, nearly yelling. "I told you I didn't need you here anymore!"

"Were _those_ Heartless?" I asked, ignoring his questions.

"Raxmi, remember what we said before?" Roxas said. "You can't tell anyone about this, alright?"

I looked doubtfully at the two of them. "Why not? Why were you fighting those things? I how did you get those powers? What _are_ you?"

Axel and Roxas shared a look. "Well..."


	4. I'm Nobody! Who Are You?

**RECAP:**

"Why did you come back?" Axel said, nearly yelling. "I told you I didn't need you here anymore!"

"Were _those_ Heartless?" I asked, ignoring his questions.

"Raxmi, remember what we said before?" Roxas said. "You can't tell anyone about this, alright?"

I looked doubtfully at the two of them. "Why not? Why were you fighting those things? I how did you get those powers? What _are_ you?"

Axel and Roxas shared a look. "Well..."

**STORY STARTS:**

I rested my head against the tree trunk and sighed. It had been a while since I'd walked in on the fight with the shadowy black things, and Axel and Roxas were still arguing about whether or not they should tell me the truth. Frankly, they didn't have to bother - their argument was telling me all I needed to know anyway!

"So let me get this straight," I said finally, interrupting Axel mid-yell. "Those shadow things are the Heartless, and they're formed when people lose their hearts You're a part of an organization that's trying to slay as much Heartless as possible. And..." I paused for a moment, "you don't hearts..."

"Who told you?" Axel asked.

"You did," I replied, staring at where his heart should be. _'How in the world is he standing in front of me if he didn't have that cardiac muscle pumping hemoglobin-infused blood around his body in pulmonary and systematic loops? Hmm, and I tell people I'm not nerdy...'_

"Well...yeah...we don't have hearts," Roxas confirmed.

"I don't believe you," I said blankly.

Axel sighed and grabbed my hand. He held it against his chest and said, "Feel anything?"

I focused as hard as I could, but I just couldn't feel the thump of his heartbeat. Unconsciously, I even felt the side of his neck to see if I could feel a pulse there.

Nothing.

"I must be dreaming," I murmured, resting my head on the tree trunk and closing my eyes for a moment. "Or maybe this whole day been a dream, and I'm dreaming this in my dream - like, Inception: The Twilight Town Version." Okay, now I'm kinda confusing myself.

Roxas shook his head. "You're not dreaming, Raxmi."

"But...how are you _alive_?" I managed to ask.

Axel leaned against the tree next to me and crossed his arms. "Okay, you already picked up on what Heartless are from our conversation, right?" I nodded. "Because we don't have hearts, we are called Nobodies. A Nobody is what remains when a person loses their heart to the darkness." He snapped his fingers, and a swaying, sleek, silver being rose up from the ground, making me jump. "Don't worry, I won't let it hurt you. That's a Dusk, the lowest form of Nobody there is. There are many different types of Nobodies, some having brute strength, some skilled with magic, and some just crafty. The highest and rarest form of Nobody is one that keeps a form that's almost identical to that of its 'Somebody'."

"A-and that's the kind that you two are?" I said. For a moment I wondered if my friends had set this up as some sort of elaborate prank as payback for breaking the promise.

"That's right. The organization we were talking about is called Organization XIII. It's a group of Nobodies like us, and our main goal is to get our hearts back. There's a place called Kingdom Hearts, which is basically the heart of all the worlds, and when a Heartless is killed, that heart is released to Kingdom Hearts. Our superior, Xemnas, thinks we can get our hearts back by slaying as many Heartless as possible until Kingdom Hearts is full."

"How?"

"How what?" Roxas asked.

"How does releasing all those hearts to Kingdom Hearts until it's full give you your hearts back?"

"Well, there's a..." Axel trailed off, uncrossing his arms. He started again, "You see, it's like..."

"What he's trying to say is...what are you trying to say?" Roxas said, looking confused.

"It's classified information," he said finally, not sounding very sure of himself.

_ 'It sounds like he doesn't know the answer!'_ I thought. "Alright then," I said, acting like I believed him, "How did the Heartless get here?"

"That's what our mission was, to search this place for Heartless and find the source," Roxas replied.

"And you can't tell a soul what we've told you, understand?" Axel said.

"Why shouldn't I?" I shot back. "It shouldn't matter if people know about all of this!"

He laid a hand on my shoulder. "Think about it, Raxmi. If you tell anyone, what's to say they won't think you're insane? I'd bet all my munny that nobody would believe your story. Everyone, here and in almost every other world, thinks that the heart is just a muscle that pumps blood around the body. No one except those with the wildest imaginations would ever be able to accept the fact that the heart has far more importance than that."

"And let's say that they do believe you," he continued. "The town would get worked up and panicked. Some people might even uproot their whole lives and move away, thinking that they're escaping from the 'danger'. Do you see what I mean? You can go ahead and tell everyone, but before you do, think about how people will respond."

"Actually, we could easily stop you from doing that if we wanted to," Roxas added.

"Thanks Roxas, now she'll think that we're going to knock her out and send her to an abandoned, far-off location, never to be heard from again," Axel commented dryly.

"You wouldn't actually do that to me, though," I said, taking all this information in.

The red-head looked at me in fascination and raised his eyebrows. "Oh, really? And what makes you say that?"

Honestly, I'm not sure why I said that. I don't trust him, in fact, all I wanted to do was to get away from these people. _ 'No, wait, they're not people. Are they?_' My head was starting to hurt. "I guess I just trust you," I lied, hoping that would get me out of this situation.

He let out a laugh. "Ya hear that, Roxas? I'm trustable!"

"No. You're not. Absolutely not," Roxas said firmly.

Axel shook his head. "Anyway...you better go, Raxmi. Don't tell anyone about us. And hey," he added, smirking, "we should meet up tomorrow, at the Central Station. We might have more work for you."

I did what he said and ran out of the woods. It's not that I was afraid of them, it was the fact that they had told me such a huge secret which frightened me. What was stopping them from just killing me off? _'They could easily get rid of me. So shall I still meet him tomorrow or not?'_

* * *

**Axel's POV**

"Okay, what was that?" Roxas asked me, when Raxmi was out of hearing range.

"What do you mean?" I said, watching Raxmi disappear from my view. I knew she would run away after I told her about us. I was fully prepared for it. And yet...I felt sad that she'd left without even saying goodbye.

'_Wait, what?'_ I thought. _'I can't feel. I must be imagining it.'_

Roxas's voice drew me out of my thoughts. "a) You just told her _everything_ about us, b) you let her go, and c) you told her to meet with us tomorrow! What's up with you today? Normally you would've said something like," he tried to imitate me, "'Now that you know...I'm afraid we can't let you go.'"

I started laughing. "That's _not_ what I sound like at all," I said.

"Yes, you do!"

"Well...at least...I...don't speak...like...a zoooooombie," I replied, dragging out the sentence.

"I don't talk like that!" he said.

"Not anymore, anyway," I smirked.

"So why'd you let her go? Do you think she'll tell anyone?" Roxas asked, staring at the spot where she'd been standing.

Shaking my head, I replied, "She won't tell. She knows no one will believe her."

"And how do you know that?" he said.

"Roxas, Roxas," I sighed, laying a hand on his shoulder. "When you don't have a heart, you have to make up for it in any way you can. The best way to do that is to rely on instinct."

"Sure, your instinct told you that she'd keep it a secret," Roxas said, grinning. "Face it, you _like_ her!"

"What? No!"

"You're falling in looooooove!"

"Roxas!"

"Go chase after her, maybe she'll run into your arm's and you'll confess your love for each other!" he laughed.

I rolled my eyes and made a portal. "I don't _like_ her, Roxas. Let's just RTC," I muttered, making him laugh harder. He made his own portal and stepped through it.

_'I can't like her that way even if I wanted to. But then, what IS this feeling?'_

* * *

**Raxmi's POV**

"Hey Raxmi!" Rai yelled out from the middle of the Sandlot. I waved and joined them.

Seifer grinned at me. "How'd you do?"

"His name's Axel, and I'm guessing he's in his early twenties. And he lives in Sunset Terrace - that's why we've never seen him before," I said. I'd made up my mind to just do what Axel said and not mention all the other _classified_ stuff, as he'd put it. So why not add a detail or two to cover his tracks? "He hangs out with a guy named Roxas, and he's about fifteen or sixteen. I don't think he's doing anything bad, but I'll still keep an eye on him."

"You found all that out in one day?" Seifer stated, looking impressed.

I held out the pouch proudly. "_And_ he gave me a job for today!" I informed them. "I earned five thousand munny!"

"What? You worked for him? Raxmi! What if he had asked you to do something illegal?"

I waved him off. "Relax, Seifer, all he had me do was look around the Haunted Woods."

Seifer looked uncertain at this. "For what?"

This I realized that this was the wrong thing to say – now I have to tell him about the Heartless and the Nobodies and all of the rest of that stuff! How could I tell him our target doesn't have a heart? Like Axel said, there's no way he'd believe me. "He said lost his...book...in the woods yesterday. He didn't want to go back in there because the woods gave him the creeps." _'Oh, real smooth, Raxmi! Why would someone be reading in the Haunted Woods?'_

I could tell from the look on Seifer's face that he thought this too, but he brought up something else instead. "And so you went in there and searched for it?" he asked incredulously. "You've _always_ been scared of that place!"

"Terrified," Fuu pointed out.

"I still am, but it was five thousand munny! Now I can pay back that man and my dad!" I said.

"Give it a rest, Seifer!" Rai said, to my surprise. "Raxmi earned munny, she found the target, she got information. There's no problem, ya know?"

"Hmph." Seifer crossed his arms, looking annoyed. "It just sounds like there's something wrong with this 'Axel' person."

"Follow him," Fuu said, nodding at me.

"She's right!" Rai agreed. "Carry on following him, like you're supposed to, ya know? Then we can be sure if he's up to no good."

Well, now I'd made up my mind. I _have_ to meet Axel tomorrow. It's my job; I can't let Seifer down again!

* * *

"Hey, Raxmi!" Seifer called out as I left to go home. When I turned around, he tossed a book and some papers at me. "I have to study this and hand it in by tomorrow. I took notes about it, it's a poem by that Emily Dickhead chick."

I rolled my eyes. "Emily _Dickinson, _Seifer."

"Whatever! Think you can finish it in time?"

I nodded and waved goodbye.

Later that night, I laughed to myself as I read the first lines of the poem that Seifer was supposed to study.

_I'm nobody! Who are you?_

_Are you nobody too?_

**A/N: Sorry for the wait! I would've posted sooner, but Wattpad (where I had saved this) went all haywire AND as I was about to post this, the power went out! :P The poem is _I'm Nobody! Who Are You? _by Emily Dickinson (but all of you probably know that!). Thanks for reading! 3**


	5. Guards

**A/N: Is this a filler? Is this _extremely_late? Yes and yes. I'm so sorry for the late update everyone! Thanks for waiting so patiently :) I hope this chapter is not completely boring!**

* * *

**RECAP:**

Later that night, I laughed to myself as I read the first lines of the poem that Seifer was supposed to study.

_I'm nobody! Who are you?_

_Are you nobody too?_

**STORY STARTS:**

I leaned against the wall outside the Central Station, drumming my fingers anxiously against my leg. I'd gotten here half an hour ago, waiting for Axel and Roxas to show up, but they still hadn't appeared.

_'Maybe they were just joking?'_ I thought, watching the crowds rushing to catch their train or running outside to meet a friend. Everyone now and then, some people would spot me, glare, then pull their kids away and get as far away from me as possible, holding their bags close.

Feeling slightly hurt, I ignored them and continued scanning the swarm of people for the black cloaks and the flaming red hair. After a while, I pushed off the wall and started to leave, feeling relieved and disappointed at the same time. As dangerous as Axel and Roxas seemed to be, I'd really wanted to meet again, especially Axel. And I have no idea why! It was probably just the idea of getting munny that made me wish they had meant what they'd said and met me here.

"Raxmi!"

_'Huh?_' Frowning, I turned around. Did someone just say my name? "Imagination," I muttered, and carried on walking.

"Raxmi! Wait up!"

Something whizzed by my head, narrowly missing a group of small kids. "Way to go, Demyx!" I heard someone groan. _'That voice...'_

I spun around and saw the red-head himself, standing next to another guy with a mullet. "Oh, come on! That was a great aim, she just moved!" the one with the mullet commented.

Axel gave him a flat look. "How strange, I would've thought she'd freeze especially for you, so that you could hit her perfectly on the head with a ball of paper."

Finally, he noticed that they'd caught my attention, and he grinned at me. "Hey, Raxmi! You're early!" he said.

"No, you're late," I corrected him, smiling.

The sandy-haired guy next to him grinned at me. "Hi! I'm Demyx!" he said, then unexpectedly jumped on me!

I laughed and hugged him back. "Hi Demyx!" I said happily, only remembeing seconds later Seifer's warning about trusting strange people. _'I really need to remember that more...'_

Axel shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I had a feeling you two would get along," he sighed.

Demyx said something, but I was distracted by a woman who'd run into a little boy and rushed off without looking back. _'That's so mean!'_ I thought, watching as the little boy started to cry.

Whatever Demyx had said, Axel didn't seem to like it. He shot Demyx a forced grin, irritation clear in his startling green eyes. "What was that, _Demmy_?" he asked.

Demyx jumped and let go of me sheepishly. "Heh...did I say something? I didn't say anything!" he rambled nervously. "It could've been the wind. It's windy today, isn't it? I think it must've been the wind. What do you think, Raxmi?"

"It...was...the wind?" I repeated, paying attention to them again. What could he have said to make Axel react that way? "So, um...what's your power?"

It feels so weird asking that! I mean, how often do you meet someone new and ask them, _'What's your power?'_

Demyx smiled happily. "I control water!" he answered proudly. Axel scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"Oh, is that why you don't like each other? Being fire and water?" I asked.

"I like Axel!" Demyx objected, slinging his arm around the fire-wielder.

Axel stared flatly at Demyx's arm. "Dude, get off me," he said. Demyx sulked and then smiled at me again. "Okay, Axel doesn't like me that much, but I like him!"

"But where's Roxas?"

"Vexen's doing experiments on him," Axel said, shuddering.

"Who's Vexen?"

_"HE IS THE CREEPIEST MAN ALIVE!" _Demyx stated dramatically. "He's number four in the Organization, and a scientist. And he'll give you nightmares for weeks once he's done with you!"

"What does he want with Roxas?" I asked in concern. "If he's that bad, you shouldn't leave Roxas alone with him!"

Axel chuckled at my reaction. "Don't worry about it, Raxmi, Roxas can take care of himself." He started explaining about Roxas's Keyblades and how Vexen sees him as 'prime study material.'

As we were talking, Demyx had wandered off. Axel groaned in annoyance when he realized that he'd left, and ran to catch up with him, dragging me along by the hand. "Demyx! Don't just leave like that!" he said, yanking him by the hood. Now we were almost in the Sandlot.

"What? You guys were talking! I got bored!"

He sighed and shook his head. "Anyway, are you still up to earning more cash, Raxmi?"

"Sure!" I said cheerfully. I didn't really have a choice, that was the only way I could keep an eye on him without looking like a complete stalker. But it was nice to spend time with him...

"Okay, it's really simple -"

"You said that last time, and I got attacked by Heartless," I pointed out.

Demyx's jaw dropped. "What? Axel! You let her get _attacked_ by Heartless? I thought you said -"

Axel shoved Demyx away. "Don't worry, babe, I won't let you get hurt this time," he smirked. "When Roxas and I were leaving the woods yesterday, some kids your age were about to go in there to do whatever kids do. They got distracted by something, so they never went in, but something like that can't happen again. So this time, Demyx is going into the Haunted Woods to investigate more and see if there are more Heartless there, while you and I guard the hole. That way, no one will go in and accidentally get killed. Like I said, it's simple. And I'll give you four thousand munny this time."

I thought about what he'd said for a moment. The kids he'd mentioned were probably Hayner's gang. Why would they want to go to the Haunted Woods? _'Oh, they must've wanted to see the Mansion,' _I realized. Seifer had told me a few days ago that in Social Studies they'd done something about the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town, and there was some sort of legend about the Mansion being the seventh wonder. Hayner's gang probably tried to see for themselves. "If it's so simple, why do you need me?" I asked.

"That's exactly what I'd said," Demyx agreed loudly.

"What can I say? It gets lonely, just sitting there, waiting for people to chase away. Might as well have good company to keep me occupied," Axel said, winking at me.

Blushing, I said, "So you're going to pay me _just_ for keeping you company?"

He raised his hands in the air. "Hey, you won't have to do a thing, just talk. Would you rather help Demyx fight off Heartless instead?"

"Not really..."

"Great!" he grinned. "C'mon, mashbrain, let's move," he added, whacking Demyx on the back of his head.

"'Mashbrain'? What does that mean?" Demyx asked me as we started walking.

"It means...um...it means you have awesome hair!" I answered with a smile. Axel laughed and turned it into a cough.

Demyx beamed brightly. "Really? Sweet! Thanks, Axel! You're a mashbrain too!"

* * *

**Axel's POV**

**_*Earlier that day*_**

I stretched my arms above my head as I wandered around Castle Oblivion. I had to go see Saix to get my mission for today, but for now I was trying to avoid him. Seriously, it's like the man delights in giving me either the hardest missions or the most boring missions. So I stick with the simplest solution: wander around aimlessly until I run into him or until he hunts me down.

Normally Roxas and Xion would be here too, but Vexen's was doing experiments on the two of them. Poor kids.

I hoped that my mission would be for Twilight Town. Yeah, it's a boring world, but getting a mission there will give me an excuse to meet up with Raxmi. Who knows? Maybe she might not even show up. I'd be pretty disappointed if that happened, though.

Hah. Like I know what disappointment feels like.

Two voices floated out from around the corner ahead of me. Great, it looks like I found moon-man _and _mullet-boy. Demyx isn't that bad, but he's _water_. Oh, he acts like a goofball all the time, but water is unpredictable that way! It looks bubbly and inviting and shallow, until you step in and realize it's actually deep and violent. But then it's too late and you're drowning slowly, or dying from hypothermia, or getting pulled out to sea by a current...okay, maybe I just don't like water.

I strolled around the corner and, right enough, saw Demyx talking to Saix. "But what if I run into Heartless?" Demyx was stammering.

"Then you take them out," Saix said simply. He turned around as I approached. "Hey Saix," I greeted him. "I was just looking for you!"

Saix looked at me strangely, and said, "Axel, you don't have any missions today," then turned back to Demyx.

_'Say what, now?'_ No missions? Oh, now I remember. He'd told me yesterday that I could have today off. Raxmi had been on my mind so much, I'd completely forgotten! Xemnas wants us all working ourselves to the bones, killing all the Heartless we can find. A day off is as rare as Xemnas finishing a sentence in less than twenty seconds.

"Lucky you, Axel!" Demyx said. "I have to go to Twilight Town to see if there are more Heartless in the woods!"

Of _course_ this would happen! Of all the days I could get a day off, it had to be the day where I actually _want _a mission. Go figure. Luckily, I was already thinking of a plan... "Saix, are you sure Demyx can handle that?" I said.

"What do you mean, Axel?" Saix asked. "I'm sure Demyx is perfectly capable of handling the situation in Twilight Town."

I leaned in so that Demyx couldn't hear. "C'mon, Saix...this is _Demyx _we're talking about, remember? If the job turns out to be bigger than he expects, you know things are going to end badly. It's best if someone goes with him, don't you think?"

"Fine then," Saix sighed. "Demyx, Larxene will be going with you."

_"What?_" Demyx yelped. "No! Not Larxene! She's scary!"

"Oh, there's no reason for Larxene to come into this," I said smoothly. "How about I go with him instead? I mean, I'm not doing anything today, right?"

Saix raised an eyebrow. "Axel, are you suggesting that _you_, of all people, are willing to give up your day off to accompany Demyx on a mission?"

"Why not?" I replied. "There's no harm if I tag along."

"Yeah! Anyone but Larxene!" Demyx added.

Saix gave me a look, one that said 'I-know-you're-up-to-something-but-I-won't-ask-what-because-I-know-I-won't-like-the-answer'. "Very well, then," he agreed. "Just don't do anything irrational, Axel."

I let out a laugh. "Me? Irrational? That's not in my dictionary," I smirked. "Can I get a rain check on my day off?"

"No," he answered firmly, summoning a portal and leaving before I could respond.

Demyx punched me in the arm. "Aw, Axel, buddy, you didn't have to do that for me!" he smiled.

"I _didn't_ do that for you," I stated, crossing my arms.

"But then why -"

"I'm going to let you in on a little secret, okay?" I said quietly, taking him by the arm and walking down the hall, in case anyone was listening. You never know around here - Xigbar can hide himself pretty well. "But you can't tell _anybody!_"

His face broke out into a happy grin. "Sure! I'm an expert at keeping secrets!"

I decided to pretend I didn't hear that sentence. "Okay, there's this girl -"

"YOU'VE GOT A GIRLFRIEND?" Demyx yelled out, then covered his mouth.

Rubbing my forehead, I prayed no one had heard that. "No, I don't have a girlfriend Demyx," I replied, glancing around the deserted hallway.

"Oooh, a crush then?" he grinned.

"No!" I lied. I admit it, Raxmi has been on my mind ever since she ran out of the Haunted Woods, but that doesn't mean I like her. I _can't_ like her. It's impossible.

Right?

"Listen, yesterday I was on recon with Roxas in Twilight Town, and I didn't feel like doing the mission. We ran into a girl - her name's Raxmi - and I paid her to do the mission for me. Long story short, she saw us fighting Heartless, so we told her everything about us."

"_Everything_?" Demyx asked, leaning in closer. "Like how Xemnas thinks we don't have hearts?"

I sighed. "He doesn't 'think' that, Demyx - we don't have hearts, period."

"Yes, we do!" he said defensively.

Rolling my eyes, I continued. "Anyway, I told her I'd meet her again at the Central Station with another job for her to do. She probably won't show up, but I'm going anyway, just in case she does. And _you_ are my cover, so don't go around telling this to everyone. You carry on with your mission, and I'll tell her that she has to keep me company or something while I guard the entrance to the Haunted Woods, alright?" Okay, she's going to have her doubts about doing that. But hey, at least I'll get to spend time with her.

"Okay then! What time do we have to meet her?"

I glanced up at the clock nearby. "...Now?"

"Then what are we waiting for! Let's go!" Before I could respond, he dragged me through a portal to Twilight Town. For once, he actually got us to the right location, and we stood outside the Central Station, looking around for Raxmi.

Huh. _ 'Either she's really good at blending in with the crowds, or she hasn't shown up'._ I'm going to go for the latter. Damn!

"Axel! Is that her?" Demyx asked suddenly, grabbing my arm and pointing at a wall.

My eyes widened as I saw a girl with long brown hair leaning against the wall, scanning the crowd. When her head turned in my direction, the sun made her deep green eyes sparkle. So she _did_ show up! "That's her," I nodded, smiling slightly. She pushed off the wall and began to walk away.

"Hey! She's leaving!" Demyx said, panicking. "Raxmi!" Raxmi looked around, then mumbled something and started moving again.

"Raxmi, wait up!" I called out. Beside me, Demyx pulled out a piece of paper, balled it up, and flung it straight at Raxmi. It missed by a mile, just about missing a small group of kids. "Way to go, Demyx," I groaned. At least we'd gotten Raxmi's attention now.

* * *

**Raxmi's POV**

***Present time***

Demyx had gone into the Haunted woods a few minutes ago, looking scared. I had told him he could get ice cream as soon as he finished. Axel had rolled his eyes and told him to man up.

Anyway, now Axel and I were sitting on the ground in the woods, with me on the left side of the hole and him on the right. I still think there's something funny about this job. I mean, he doesn't really _need_ my company, does he? Or maybe he just wants to spend time with me. _'Don't be silly, Raxmi,'_ I thought, _'Why would he want to spend time with you? There must be some other rational explanation!'_

"Hey, how old are you, Raxmi? Sixteen?" Axel asked me.

I nodded. "How old are you?"

"Oh, you don't need to know that," he said casually, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back. "So that means you're still in high school, right?"

"I don't go to school..."

"Why not?"

"Can't afford it," I mumbled, blushing.

"Oh..."

"But Seifer usually lets me help with his homework and explains stuff to me - do you know him?"

He thought for a moment. "You mean that show-off who thinks he runs the town?" he said finally with a grin. "I never thought that kid would do that!"

My eyes narrowed. "He's my best friend," I replied.

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Really, now? You should hang out with a better crowd then," he commented. "He seems like bad news."

How could he say that? He doesn't even _know_ Seifer well enough to say something like that! I like Axel a lot, but there's no way he could say that about my best friend! "He might seem like that to you, but we've been friends for years!" I said, crossing my arms. "He's been like a brother to me and he's protected me from everyone who's tried to hurt me. You've got no right to say that he's bad news!"

He raised his hands in the air. "Okay, I'm sorry," he said hastily. "I shouldn't judge him like that."

I calmed down, feeling guilty about lashing out at him like that. "Sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you," I sighed. Man, I've been doing a lot of apologizing lately!

"Don't apologize!" he said. "I didn't realize he meant that much to you." An awkward silence followed. "Is he...your boyfriend?" he asked eventually.

"Ew! No!" I made a face. "I could never like Seifer_that_ way!"

He looked relieved and was about to say something, but a commotion outside interrupted the conversation. I poked my head through the wall to see what was going on. Hayner, Pence, and Olette were outside, making their way to the entrance.

_'Oh, now what?'_ I thought.

* * *

**Third Person POV**

*At The Castle That Never Was*

"And that is all he said?" Xemnas asked. Xigbar and Saix were in his office.

"That's everything," Xigbar confirmed, then laughed. "Man, I thought Axel would know by now not to say stuff like that straight out in the open! He should've guessed I'd be listening in!"

Xemnas and Saix nodded slowly, thinking over the matter. "I knew he wouldn't have voluntarily offered to go on a mission with Demyx, especially on his day off," Saix stated.

"This could be very troublesome," Xemnas said. "From what you've said, Xigbar, Axel has not only exposed someone to Heartless, but also given her knowledge of us Nobodies."

"What shall we do, Superior?" Saix questioned.

"I say we kick Axel's ass," Xigbar grinned.

Xemnas sighed. "This is a delicate matter. Come back later, and we will discuss it then."


	6. Friendships?

******Dedicated to my best friend, who's put up with my weirdness for more than ten years! You're the best person in the whole world, 'GiLly'! Well, besides me, obviously ;D**

**RECAP:**

"This could be very troublesome," Xemnas said. "From what you've said, Xigbar, Axel has not only exposed someone to Heartless, but also given her knowledge of us Nobodies."

"What shall we do, Superior?" Saix questioned.

"I say we kick Axel's ass," Xigbar grinned.

Xemnas sighed. "This is a delicate matter. Come back later, and we will discuss it then."

* * *

**STORY STARTS:**

***Raxmi's POV***

"They friends of yours?" Axel asked me, referring to Hayner, Pence, and Olette outside the hole.

"Not really," I replied as I watched them prepare to come in.

"How shall we distract them?"

I sighed and stood up, stretching. "Well, I could preoccupy them for a little while. Why don't you go see how Demyx is doing? That way, if he's done with recon, you can leave in case they get past me."

"You're sure you can keep them away?" he asked.

"Umm...I kinda have to, don't I?"

Axel let out a laugh. "True, it's what I'm paying you for," he said, looking away. "Be careful, okay?"

I smiled at him. "How much damage could Hayner do? He doesn't hit girls."

"I've heard his words can do more damage than his fists," he answered. "I don't know what he could have over you, but don't let anything he says get to you, got it memorized?"

'"Got it," I confirmed. He gave me one last grin before going to look for Demyx. '_Now where did he hear that about Hayner from?'_ It's actually true. I'm sure Hayner doesn't mean to, but sometimes the things he says to me can really hurt. Wait...Axel doesn't know what Hayner doesn't have over me? Then he still doesn't know about me stealing...

Working up my courage, I ventured outside, blinking to adjust to the sunlight. Hayner's gang spotted me a few seconds later. "Hey, Raxmi!" Pence waved cheerfully, which make me a little confused. Pence was a nice guy, but he never bothered to be very friendly around me before!

Olette smiled at me too. "What're you doing here?" she asked.

"Oh, just...wandering around," I said, just as cheerfully. "What about you?"

Hayner, who had a nasty bruise on his right cheek - probably from when Seifer punched him - said, " We heard about the Seven Wonders, so we're going to explore the woods and check out the Mansion to see if the last one is true. Wanna come with us?"

"Go...with you guys?" I repeated in surprise. _'...Maybe...I_ _**died**__...and this is some sort of twisted afterlife...?'_ "Um...thanks, but I'm trying to find someone right now."

YES! For the first time ever, I came up with a legitimate excuse! I started doing a happy dance in my head. _'Go Rax-mi! Go Rax-mi! It's your birthday, it's your birthday~!'_

"Really? Who are you looking for?" Pence asked. "Maybe we can help you find him."

I stopped singing in my head to come up with a response. "I'm looking for...the man that I stole from a few days ago." Two in a row! "Do you know who he was? I don't remember anything about him." I asked them, suppressing a grin.

The gang looked thoughtful as they tried to recall the memory. "Come to think of it, I've never actually seen him before," Olette said. "I think he might've been from out of town or something. Guys, what did he look like?"

Pence snapped his fingers. "Oh! He was wearing a red scarf!" he exclaimed.

"Whoa! That helps so much!" Hayner said in fake-excitement, but then said, "Wait, wasn't it maroon?"

"Colours don't matter!" Olette said.

"It narrows the search down!" Hayner argued.

I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye. Axel was on the other side of the wall, looking out through the hole. And there was darkness floating all around him! Since Hayner, Pence, and Olette were still arguing about the man's scarf, I took that chance to run back to the hole. "What happened to you?" I said, panicking.

"What? Is there something on my coat?" he asked, looking down at his clothes.

I gestured wildly at the purple-black stuff that was fading rapidly. "The darkness was eating you!"

He laughed and then glanced at Hayner's gang to see if they'd heard. "That was just a portal, Raxmi! It can't hurt me. Why? Were you worried you'd never see my beautiful face again?" he smirked.

I blushed madly and changed the subject. "Did you find Demyx?" I asked, hoping that he wouldn't notice me blushing.

"Yeah, I told him to RTC," he answered.

"...RTC?"

"Stands for 'Return To Castle'. But you're friends can't -"

"They're not my friends," I interrupted, "not really, anyway!"

"Whatever, those kids still can't go in there, alright? Demyx didn't see any Heartless, but they have to practically slap him in the face for him to notice them. So can you keep Hayner's gang away for a few days?"

I nodded. "I guess I could make them forget about going there for now," I said. "You better go before they see you!"

He grinned at me and tossed a pouch into my hand. "By the way, Raxmi, you look even cuter when you blush," he added, winking. Before I could respond, he made another portal thingy, making me jump back a little, and he left. Oh well, I couldn't think of any way to respond to that. That's the first time I've been tongue-tied! Looking inside the pouch, I saw what was probably about four thousand munny. "Bye, Axel," I mumbled, even though he'd already left.

I went back to Hayner's gang, who hadn't even noticed that I'd gone. "I'm telling you, it was made of cotton!" Hayner was saying determinedly. "Kinda like a turban, but like, on his face!"

"A turban on his face?" Olette echoed. "Were you looking at the same man?"

"Um...I hate to interrupt," I said, "but could I ask you guys something?"

"Sure! What's up?" Pence asked.

"I still don't remember what this guy looks like," I explained, "and honestly, I wasn't paying attention to who he was. I'm guessing you guys have a way better memory than me, so do you think you could find him for me?"

"Why?" Pence asked.

I looked down at the ground and held my hands together. "Well, I feel really bad about taking his munny...so I've been trying to remember who he was so that I could repay him..."

"Oh! We can definitely find him for you!" Olette agreed happily. Hayner crossed his arms. "Aw, man! What about exploring the woods?" he complained.

"This is about doing justice, Hayner!" Pence said, pumping a fist in the air. "We can explore the woods any other day!"

"We'll start looking right now! C'mon, guys!" Olette added, dragging the boys behind her. "See ya around, Raxmi!" they yelled out.

Well. That was weird. They've never been _that_ friendly before. Come to think of it, they've often tried to be nice to me, but I usually avoided them, mostly because Seifer doesn't like them. Maybe they're not so bad after all...

_'Axel!'_ I mentally slapped myself. Axel just left, and I don't know if I'll ever see him again! Will he come back? Argh! Way to focus, Raxmi!

* * *

**? POV**

He stood next to me, feeling his pockets. "I knew it!" he exclaimed. "I knew one of those kids took something from me. My munny's gone!"

I frowned, brushing my long hair back. "How much was it?"

"Five hundred! Damn!"

Shaking my head, I thought, _'That's it?_' Typical cheapskate. Going on about five hundred munny when we have bigger things to worry about...

"I'll have to deal with this," he mumbled.

"Why? It was hardly anything!" I said.

He faced me, with his eyes narrowed. "People don't steal from me and get away with it," he replied.

I sighed. "What are you going to do? Stalk her and damn her to a life of eternal misery?"

He made an angry noise, and turned back to what he was doing. "You'll see."

* * *

**Raxmi's POV**

I walked around the town's tunnels later that afternoon, my hands in my black jacket pockets and my hair falling around my face. _'I love this place!'_ There's something about the emptiness, the way the tunnels tend to stretch out like they go on forever. It's a little creepy sometimes, but relaxing to. Not many people come down here, except for the occasional teenager who's trying to get some extra exercise by walking.

That's why I jumped when I heard someone moving behind me. Turning around, I saw a tall man with long, white-streaked black hair. Strange. Adults never go through the tunnels. And what's with his eyepatch? _'Dude, Halloween's months away. Dress up like a pirate then!'_

Then I noticed what he was wearing. Hooded black cloak. Just like Axel, Roxas, and Demyx.

"You must be Raxmi!" the man greeted me, his voice gravelly.

"Do I know you?" I asked cautiously.

"Oh no, not yet," he grinned. "Name's Xigbar. Recognize the clothes, kiddo?"

'_Don't trust him!'_ Seifer's voice yelled in my head. For once, I actually remembered his words! This guy is definitely in Organization XIII with Axel, but I don't think Axel would be friends with the man in front of me! "No, sorry," I lied nervously, trying to walk around him.

"Hey, don't leave yet, kid," he said, still grinning. "You sure this coat doesn't seem familiar to you?"

I nodded vigorously. Actually, too vigorously - I probably looked suspicious now. "Not at all," I replied. I tried to go around him again, but this time he grabbed my shoulder with an iron grip and yanked me back._ 'Ow!'_

Xigbar's grin disappeared and was replaced with a threatening look. "What's the rush, girlie? We only just met," he scowled.

'_Uh-oh...'_

* * *

**A/N: Dun dun DUN! Raxmi's in trouble! Heehee, it's so strange making Xigbar act all threatening-like. So, what'll happen next? What's Xigbar going to do to Raxmi? Why were Hayner's gang acting all nice? Who exactly did Raxmi steal from? You'll have to wait and see! :D Thanks for reading, Ja Ne!**


	7. Anger Management

**A/N: Honestly, I could've sworn that I'd updated this earlier...I'm so sorry for the long wait, everybody! :(**

**RECAP:**

"No, sorry," I lied nervously, trying to walk around him.

"Hey, don't leave yet, kid," he said, still grinning. "You sure this coat doesn't seem familiar to you?"

I nodded vigorously. Actually, too vigorously - I probably looked suspicious now. "Not at all," I replied. I tried to go around him again, but this time he grabbed my shoulder with an iron grip and yanked me back._ 'Ow!'_

Xigbar's grin disappeared and was replaced with a threatening look. "What's the rush, girlie? We only just met," he scowled.

_'Uh-oh...'_

**STORY STARTS:**

Xigbar was nearly breaking my shoulder, his grip was so tight! Either he doesn't want me to get away, or he actually just wants to get to know me before letting me leave. I really hope it's the latter, but hey, life doesn't usually go the way I want it.

"Now, let's try this again," he suggested, loosening his hold slightly. "I ask you a question, you answer, then you ask me a question, and I answer, and we've gotta tell the truth. Capiche?"

"Um...I guess so?"

"That's the spirit, squirt." He laughed dryly. "What's your name?"

I tilted my head, confused. "But you already know my na -"

"Let's pretend I don't," he said, rolling his eyes.

"Raxmi."

He pretended to look offended. "What, no last name?"

"It's my turn to ask a question, not yours," I frowned.

He laughed again and actually let go of my shoulder. "Hey, you're kinda fun, tiger. More spark than that zombie Roxas..."

"Roxas is _not_ a zombie!" I shot back, then mentally yelled at myself. Well, so much for pretending that I don't know anything about them.

Xigbar raised an eyebrow, a triumphant look on his face. "Oh, _really_ now?" he asked dryly, crossing his arms and grinning. "And here I was convinced that you didn't know anyone from our little Organization."

"...I still haven't asked you a question," I answered defiantly, seeing that there was no way out of the mess I'd made. His eyes narrowed slightly, but the cocky look stayed on his face.

Out of nowhere, I noticed a little blur flash by. Darting my eyes quickly, I caught a glimpse of a short, shadowy figure sliding around a corner. _'Heartless!'_ I thought instantly. Then the creature shifted ever-so-slightly, and I had to look down hurridly to hide my smile. "How old are you?" I asked Xigbar, directing my attention back to him.

"Too old for you, kiddo," he smirked, and I shuddered. He's, by far, the creepiest person I'd ever met! Even some of my dad's friends, who could win a prize for creepiness, are pale in comparison to this guy! "How old are _you_?"

"Sixteen," I said shortly. "How did you get your eyepatch? Did you just get back from a five-year-old's costume party?"

He scowled. "It's not something you'd understand," he replied, "and I don't have all day to play twenty question with children."

"But you suggested it!" I exclaimed. "I just wanted to leave!"

_"Well,_ you can't leave yet, can you?" he sighed, holding his head. "Sheesh, this one's thick..."

"No, I'm not!" I nodded at the figure hidden in the shadows. "I'm way more attentive than _you_ are!"

"Wha-"

Right on cue, the figure leapt out and blasted Xigbar with flames. At the same time, he hit him full-force on his other side with ice. _'I wonder what that feels like? To be roasting on one half and freezing on the other? I'll have to ask him sometime...'_ I stored that memory away as I got away. "Get back here!" I heard Xigbar yelling out to me, but then he yelled out again in pain. I glanced over my shoulder to see him being enveloped in darkness. Good! That means he left! I didn't like that guy.

Just to be safe, I sprinted all the way to Exit 2, bursting into Market Street. Hmm. These past few days have involved a lot of escaping on my part. I should ask Seifer to teach me more about how to fight, so that I don't have to run anymore. As I thought about that, the shadow figure crept up next to me, making me leap about three feet in the air when he tapped on my arm.

_'Argh! Why does he have to be so quiet!'_

"You've got to stop doing that to me," I breathed, placing a hand over my heart. My heart. What would've happened to it if Vivi hadn't shown up? Would Xigbar have forced me into a horde of Heartless, standing by as they stole it? That means I would've become a Nobody. Like Axel.

_'How did Xigbar know about me?'_ I wondered. _'Did Axel tell him about me? No - why would he do that? It doesn't seem likely. Maybe Roxas told him? That can't be right, it seemed like he thought Roxas was a dunce, so they probably wouldn't talk to each other much. A-HA! Maybe DEMYX told him?'_

Next to me, Vivi tugged on my sleeve. Oops! Here I was, standing around and thinking, after Vivi saved my life...or heart...in any case, he saved me! "Thank you _so much_, Vivi!" I said sincerely, crouching down. I opened up my arms to hug him, but he just stretched out at grabbing my right hand instead and shook it. I sighed. Vivi and I had never been very close, and he hardly ever talked to me, even though he hung around Seifer a lot. "Why did you help me, Vivi?" I asked him.

"You l-looked scared," he said quietly, stumbling a little over his words as he usually did. "You're sh-shaking."

I looking down at my hands. He's right. Was I shaking this much when Xigbar was firing question at me? No wonder the Organization member had found it so amusing to talk to me. "Well, thanks again," I smiled. "If you ever need anything, you let me know, 'kay?"

Vivi nodded vigorously.

"Oh! And...do you think you could _not_ tell Seifer about this?" I asked pleadingly. He hesitated. I knew he would; he's _very_ devoted to Seifer. "Please? I don't need him to worry about this, Vivi. Please?"

After a moment, he nodded, and I sighed in relief. Vivi walked away abruptly, leaving me there in my thoughts. Most people tend to stay away from Vivi, because he's the only Black Mage around. I'm still not sure why Seifer lets him hang out with us, but I do kinda like him. And, man, am I glad he was around today...

* * *

**Axel's P.O.V.**

"Hey, Flamesilocks," Xigbar grinned at me, slapping me on the shoulder. "Beautiful day, isn't it?"

I raised my eyebrows and gave him a look. "What's up with the sudden happiness, mono-eye? Did Vexen finally find proof that you have a brain?"

Xigbar shook his head in mock sadness. "For someone whose element in fire, you are so _cold_, man!"

"What d'you want, Xigbar?" I asked, sighing.

The Freeshooter smirked at me lazily. "Well, I _was_ gonna talk to you about your little girlfriend...but I see you're not in the mood to talk." He started walking away.

Wait, what?

"Hold up, Xigbar!" I called out, making him stop in his tracks and turn back to me. "Touched a nerve, did I?' he laughed.

"What are you talking about?"

"That green-eyed street kid in Twilight Town," he replied, crossing his arms. "Now, what's her name, again? Roxanne? Rexelanna? Rexi?"

"Raxmi," I answered, as I tried to control myself.

He smirked again. "Oh, so you _do_ know who I'm talkin' about, then?"

"We've run into each other once or twice," I lied. "Nothing more than hi and bye."

Xigbar chuckled and slapped me on the back. "See, I heard something the other day in the hallways. Apparently, she's been doing a few of your missions for you, aye?"

I clenched my fists, feeling anger flash in my eyes. Seriously, what is _wrong_ with me? This pirate-wannabe can't get the better of me! I control my anger on a daily basis. Let me tell you, that is _not_ easy when you're a fire element. Nothing this guy can say will change that. "Do you want something from me, old man?" I said evenly.

"Eh, I don't want anything from you," he replied, punching my arm. "I just thought I'd let you know that the Superior and Saix are onto you, mate. And you better be more careful if you're gonna keep seeing that kid, see?"

My eyes narrowed. "If they know about her, that means _you_ told them," I pointed out. "Why are you warning me, then?"

He started walking away again. "Because, Flamer, what's the fun in them eliminating her, just like that?" He snapped his fingers, then crossed his arms behind his head. "Way too boring, dude. I thought I might as well give you a heads-up, sit back, and watch the entertainment as you try and find a way to protect the tiger."

I scoffed lightly, turning away from his retreating form. "And here I was thinking you just wanted to help out with decent intentions, like an honest person."

"Me? Decent intentions?" He laughed. "As if!"

Suddenly, he turned back around and smirked at me. "By the way, I would've thought you'd do better than _that_ , Axel. That poor excuse of a girl doesn't even deserve a second glance."

Two seconds later, he was slammed against the wall, clutching his face where I'd punched him. "Don't you _dare_ talk about her like that again, or I swear there'll be more that one scar on that messed-up joke you call your face," I growled.

As I walked away, Xigbar yelled out to me. "I could have you turned into a Dusk for this, Axel!" I should be safe; that old man doesn't have the guts to rat on me.

Yeah, so about controlling my anger? Sometimes, it's just too hard to keep in.


	8. Absences and Illusions

**RECAP:**

Suddenly, he turned back around and smirked at me. "By the way, I would've thought you'd do better than _that_, Axel. That poor excuse of a girl doesn't even deserve a second glance."

Two seconds later, he was slammed against the wall, clutching his face where I'd punched him. "Don't you _dare_ talk about her like that again, or I swear there'll be more that one scar on the ugly, messed-up joke you call your face," I growled.

"I could have you turned into a Dusk for this, Axel!" Xigbar yelled out as I walked away. Like that guy would turn me in for this.

Yeah, about controlling my anger? Sometimes, it's just too hard to keep in.

* * *

**STORY STARTS:**

***Raxmi's POV***

Two weeks had passed since the encounter with Xigbar in the tunnels. Axel hadn't come by at all. As I walked back home from Seifer's house, I began to wonder if I'd ever see him again.

_ 'Just face it, Raxmi,'_ a voice in my head said, _'he's obviously not coming back. Why would he wait for so long?'_

Even while I thought this, a part of me argued back. How am I supposed to know why he hasn't showed up? Maybe he's just been super-busy with missions. "Yeah, that's probably the reason," I said to myself.

But what if he just didn't want to see me? Or even worse...what if he'd been hurt by those Heartless creatures? What if he'd been killed?

I shook those thoughts out of my head. This guy is making me lose way too much sleep at night! The munny he'd paid me was good, but in the long run it would be far too dangerous to stick around with him because of the whole Heartless business. And besides, Seifer's pleased that the 'threat' has supposedly left town, as I'd told him, so I should just let the matter drop.

I'd managed to do odd jobs here and there, and now - added to what Axel gave me - I have 10,000 munny. Working only two days for Axel made me earn nine thousand munny, and working ordinary jobs for two weeks only got me one thousand. Sigh.

I was so lost in my 'what if-ing' that I didn't noticed the lights on in my house. "Where the _hell_ have you been?" my dad demanded as I walked in the door. I winced when the blaring volume of the television hit my ears.

Of _course_ he'd be home now. I'm always home on time, and yet Dad's never home until hours later. But the one time that I stay back with Seifer for half an hour over my curfew, which is ridiculously early, he's here. Because that's just my luck.

It's as if Fate's laughing at me with a big, stupid grin on her face.

"Just doing stuff with Seifer and Rai and Fuu," I responded carefully.

He scowled and pushed himself off his chair, slamming his beer bottle onto the counter as he walked through the kitchen to me. "Do you have any idea what time it is?" he hissed.

I glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Half past nine."

"Enlighten me quickly: what time is your curfew?"

"...Nine..."

Dad glared at me, and luckily let the subject drop as another thought hit him. "Where's your rent?" he snapped, raking a hand through his curly, sandy hair.

"In my room," I muttered, brushing past him to go to the aforementioned.

Flinging a hand in my path, he stopped me in my tracks. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

I sucked in a breath, holding myself back from saying something I'd regret. I'm a cheerful person. So why is it that I'm not that way around my own father? Well, it's a mission for me to be nice to this man. Not impossible, but still damn difficult.

No, he doesn't hit me. No, he doesn't scar me with his words; well, hardly ever. No, he doesn't abuse me in any way. Most people who know me - Fuu, Rai, and even Hayner's gang - either know or have figured out that he's a lousy dad. But that's only vaguely part of the reason why my father has a low grade in my books. And only vaguely part of the reason why I'm too darn cowardly to stand up to him.

Seifer's the only one who really knows. And I plan to keep it that way.

I forced a smile onto my face, trying hard to make it genuine. "I'll give you the money now, so you won't be bothered by me later," I replied.

He rolled his mud-coloured hazel eyes at me. "How nice of you," he sneered.

_ 'Rai playing wedding with Barbie dolls and Fuu reading Dr. Seuss to little kids and Seifer doing Gangam Style...'_ I tried to think of ridiculous images to keep the smile on my face. Seifer dancing to Gangnam Style always works well.

A bit too well, actually. While I pictured Seifer hopping along Market Street in that signature dance chanting, _"Op - op - op - op - oppa Gangnam style!"_ my innocent mask must've turned into a retarded grin.

"What's so funny?" my dad sighed, walking back to the counter to grab his beer and taking a swig.

"Nothing, nothing," I choked out, trying to smother a laugh.

Dad rolled his eyes again and waited in the living room while I went to fetch the munny. "Hurry _up_, I haven't got all day," he snapped.

I ignored him and walked over to my mirror in my room, reaching behind it to feel for that small purple pouch. Grasping it firmly, I yanked it out and snatched three thousand munny from it, then tied it back in its place. It's not like Dad would randomly sneak into my room and take my earnings, but I like to keep things in secure places, ya know?

Oh, gosh, I just did a Rai. Oops.

Dad snatched the munny from me as soon as I handed it to him. He leafed through the notes and glared at me through narrowed eyes before slamming my door shut and locking it.

That's right, my dad always suspects that I might sneak out at night, so he locks me in my room. There are even safety stays on my window, which otherwise would've easily been an exit point. Of course, I've never snuck out and I don't plan on doing that any time soon. But does he believe me? Of course not.

Sighing, I grabbed my pyjamas and changed for bed, taking a second to whip a brush through my hair. When I was done, I dove onto my bed and curled up under the covers.

As I shut my eyes, a mental picture of that flame-haired man flickered in my mind. "Maybe he'll be here tomorrow," I told myself softly. _'Maybe he'll visit me, maybe he'll come alone, maybe we can spend more time together...'_

Oh, who am I kidding? My wishes never come true.

* * *

***Axel's POV***

*Earlier that day*

I lay on my messily-made bed, staring blankly at the dull grey ceiling. Man, whoever decorated this place had no imagination. Everything's grey and white. Hey, look, a bed! Grey and white sheets. Hey, look, a chair! Blindingly white. Hey, look, a room! Whadya know, it's called 'The Grey Area'. The creator must've known who its inhabitants would be. Empty shells, colourless beings, bleak entities that put on a false show for the rest of the world.

I smirked a little and crossed my arms behind my head. _'Keep thinking like this, Axel, and you'll turn into some rambling old philosopher that no one listens to.'_

So if this room was established to shelter someone who held no inner decoration, then why do I keep feeling these weird...things? It doesn't make sense.

Xemnas says that we don't have hearts. That we have to slay Heartless to release other hearts. That supplying Kingdom Hearts with that power with give us our hearts back. I never really questioned it before. I never gave the matter thought. I'd think, _'Whatever, hack at the shadow-things, get our hearts back. Piece of cake.'_ Then I'd go out and do just that.

And yet, when Raxmi asked me why empowering Kingdom Hearts would make us whole again, I couldn't think of anything. Maybe it's just one of those 'scientific phenomena' that Vexen sometimes drones on about. If that's the case, no wonder I can't explain it. Who ever listens to that dude, anyway?

Just then, I heard a knock on the door. "Axel! We've got a mission in Pride Lands!" Roxas called out.

"Coming," I yelled back, and I heard him walk away. Sighing, I stretched my arms and rolled off the bed. _'Let's get this show on the road.'_

* * *

It was getting late, nearly eleven o'clock at night, but Roxas, Xion, and I were still wide awake. The blonde Nobody was battling it out against me at FIFA, while Xion watched us amusedly. "No...no...NO!" Roxas threw his controller to the side and groaned.

"Aw, don't sweat it, Roxas," I grinned, patting him on the back. "No human is capable of beating me at any game. At all. Don't blame yourself, it's just not physically possible."

"...One of these days, I'll win. You just watch," he promised.

"Sure, sure," I chuckled.

"So, Axel, when can I meet this Raxmi girl you keep talking about?" Xion asked, changing the subject.

I turned my head away and walked away to turn off the PlayStation3. "What do you mean, Xion?" I asked placidly, as the system shut down. "I don't 'keep talking' about her."

Roxas let out a small laugh. "Yes, you do. You mentioned her at least five times before we started fighting that shaman Heartless thing. Why are you avoiding her, anyway? I thought you liked her?"

"Sheesh, for the millionth time, I don't _like_ her," I corrected. _'Liar, liar, liar,'_ a voice chanted in my head. "Shut up!" I mumbled to myself. Stupid brain.

"What?" Xion asked.

"Err...nothing," I replied. I let out a long yawn and stretched. "Well, it's getting late, you guys. I'm gonna hit the sack."

Roxas and Xion glanced at the clock. "Yeah, I better get going too," Roxas agreed. Xion got up with him and left. "Good night, Axel!" she called out.

"'Night," I replied. As their footsteps echoed farther away, I put out a hand to make a portal to my room. But, Roxas's voice kept swimming around my head. _'I thought you liked her? I thought you liked her? I thought you liked her?_' The sentence repeated itself like a mantra, going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

I growled softly in frustration. Making a split decision, I made summoned the portal, but to a different destination. There was something I had to do.

* * *

***Raxmi's POV***

_ Tap._

_ Tap._

_ Tap._

My eyes widened as I was awakened by strange noises. What was it? Oh no, what if it's a burglar? Or a serial killer? Or that demon from that movie Seifer and I watched last week? The noises started to get louder.

_ Tap._

_ Clunk._

_ Thunk._

_ THUD._

I shot up and turned my lamp on. Seifer's been showing me how to fight properly instead of running away these past few weeks. Whatever this thing was, I could take it on! I flung myself out of bed.

Cautiously, I crept over to the window, where the noises were originating. I cracked my knuckles in anticipation. "Come at me, bro," I whispered.

_THUMP._

I leapt a meter away from the window in shock. Forget it, I can't do this. Go away, bro, go away!

"Raxmi!"

Okay, a burglar wouldn't know my name. Neither would a murderer or a demon. Curiously, I pushed aside my curtain and glanced out the window. There, standing a few feet away from the side of the house, illuminated by a handful of fire was...

"Axel!" I hissed, opening the window. I forgot that the safety stays were there and nearly fell over from pushing too hard, making him chuckle. "What are you doing here? Do you know what time it is?" I asked, gesturing at the night sky. Well, as 'night' as Twilight Town can get.

"Honestly, Raxmi? I couldn't stop thinking about you," he smiled.

My heart fluttered a little. "R-really?"

"Nah, I just wanted to borrow some hairspray. Do you have any?"

I laughed and leaned forward. "Seriously, what is it?"

He waved a hand, beckoning me forward. "Come on, I wanna show you something," he said mysteriously.

"How?"

"Climb out," he answered.

I tapped the window stays that prevented the window from opening further. "Can't, it doesn't open any wider than this."

"Then just go out the front door. I'll meet you there, okay?"

"I can't!" I said, as he began to walk away. "My door's locked!"

He turned back and stared at me quizzically. "Then...unlock it?"

Shaking my head, I responded, "My dad locks it from the outside."

"Oh..." he sighed. Then he brightened up. "What am I thinking? You can just use a portal!" he laughed, flicking his hand. Instantly, a massive swirl of darkness fused into being right beside me, making me jump again. Discretely, I pinched my arm just to make sure that I wasn't dreaming. Nothing happened, so I guess this is real.

Whoa.

"I...I don't know," I said hesitantly, looking nervously at the portal.

He smiled at me encouragingly. "C'mon, Raxmi. You can trust me, I promise," he said. He held up one hand like he was taking an oath, and with the other he made an 'X' over his heart. Or, where his heart would be.

_'Do I? Do I really trust this person? This guy with dark powers, who could kill me in a snap, that I've only had five conversations with?'_

Taking a deep breath, I stepped through the portal.

* * *

I opened my eyes and saw a dark, grey wall. I shivered slightly and rubbed my arms. Wherever I was, it was cold. Under my feet was a hard, concrete floor. And on my left I saw...bars?

"Hey!" I yelled, gripping the solid metal bars. Is this some kind of joke? He's put me in a cell!

Axel composed in front of me, shaking his head. "Raxmi, Raxmi, Raxmi," he sighed. You really shouldn't trust people so easily."

To my horror, he morphed into a completely different person, wearing the same coat but having silver-grey hair instead of red. "See you later," he said, portalling away.


	9. Hopeless Reasonings

**A/N: Well, it was quite interesting to see who everyone thinks the person who took Raxmi was. I've seen theories that it was Xemnas, Zexion, Riku, and even Axel himself. Since I'm in a good mood today, you'll find out who it is in this chapter :) Vote and comment! ^.^**

**P.S., it's kinda hard to describe the cell that Raxmi's in. Think of the cell where Kairi was held in Kingdom Hearts 2.**

**RECAP:**

I opened my eyes and saw a dark, purple wall. I shivered slightly and rubbed my arms. Wherever I was, it was cold. Under my feet was a hard, concrete floor. And on my left I saw...bars?

"Hey!" I yelled, gripping the solid metal bars. Is this some kind of joke? He's put me in a cell!

Axel composed in front of me, shaking his head. "Raxmi, Raxmi, Raxmi," he sighed. You really shouldn't trust people so easily."

To my horror, he morphed into a completely different person, wearing the same coat but having silver-grey hair instead of red. "See you later," he said, portalling away.

* * *

**STORY STARTS:**

***Raxmi's POV***

"Wait! You're not Axel!" I shouted, shaking the bars. Okay, it's pretty obvious that this person wasn't Axel, but I'm shock. I'm allowed to state the obvious.

The person stopped just before he left. He, who had his back to me, turned his head slightly. I was sure that he was rolling his eyes. "Excellent observation," he noted sarcastically. "Also, the bars that you're holding are made of metal, if you haven't already noticed."

I huffed and narrowed my eyes. "Where am I? Why did you bring me here? Who are you? Are you in Organization XIII? Where's Axel? Does he know I'm here?"

The guy rubbed his temple with his fingers lightly, like I was giving him a headache. "In a prison cell, because I was told to, you'll find out, yes, I don't know, and probably sleeping," he answered. Then he started walking away.

This was some kind of twisted prank...right? I kicked at the bars to get his attention again. _Ow_. Bad idea. "So you're just going to leave me here, with no explanation?" I demanded, starting to get scared. "Without telling me where I am, or why I'm here, or when you'll let me out?"

Sighing, he turned to me partially. His silver-grey fringe hid most of his shadowed face, so that action did basically nothing for identification. Compared to Axel, he seemed undersized, and his short hair looked choppy. "Do you always ask this many questions?" he asked.

"..._Let me out!"_

He shook his head, and his the corners mouth turned upward in a small smile. "Now, why would I go through the trouble of bringing you here, just to let you go? Such a waste of my effort," he commented.

I frowned. "What effort? You didn't do anything besides making portal thingies."

The person nodded. "a) They're just called 'portals', not 'portal thingies'. b) You're right. You fell for it extremely easily. I barely had to do a thing."

"_Number VI!" _a voice boomed out of nowhere, making me leap back.

The mystery guy, apparently Number Six in the Organization, raised a hand half-heartedly in my direction to say goodbye as he was cloaked in darkness. Within seconds, I was all alone. Stuck in this place. What did I do to deserve this?

Two...Dawns? No, Dusks...two Dusks rose up out of the ground and stood in front of my cell, rocking and swaying to an unknown rhythm, humming and clicking to each other. _'They must be here to guard me...'_ The first time I saw them, Axel had said that they wouldn't hurt me. But that was when he was there, making sure that I was safe. They didn't seem like they were going to harm me, but I shrank back into the back of the cell anyway. I get scared easily, alright?

While the two Dusks remained at their posts, I looked around, paying more attention to my surroundings. I was in a dark purple room, with four lights beaming up nearby from the floor, two on each side of me. The roof was high up; it seemed to go on forever. Shaped in a large hexagon, the cell was actually quite large. The barred entrance was raised above ground level and took up one wall, and on the other side of it I could see white, glaring white. As a result, the two Dusks merely looked like pale shadows against the wash-out walls outside the cell.

Although the bars were set quite far apart, I didn't think that I could fit between them. Even if I could, the Nobodies would stop me, and I didn't want to risk it. How long are they going to keep me here? Surely Seifer and Fuu and Rai would notice I've gone missing. They'd definitely come looking for me. Then again, would they be able to find me? I don't even know where I am, so how should they?

'_Oh. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. Oh, no.'_ The reality was setting in. I was being held prisoner by a leather-wearing, organ-missing, goal-crazed, magical group of people, and no one knew about it.

Just. My. Luck.

* * *

A week had passed.

Okay. It was only a few days.

...Fine. It had only been a few hours. But it _felt_ like a week, at least.

A few hours had passed since Mr. Six had left me here. My dad has most likely noticed that I'm missing now. He's probably coming up with wild notions as to how I got out, like, "She must've hoarded plastic spoons and dug her way through the wall!"

As I wondered about how annoyed Dad would be by now, I heard footsteps coming from...whatever was outside the cell. The person didn't sound like they were in a hurry and, judging by the low tone of their humming, the person was a he. If it's Mr. Six again, I'm not letting him get away without properly answering my questions. And nothing he could do would stop me. Well, actually, there were hundreds of things he could do to stop me.

The footsteps were getting closing, gradually, steadily. The humming was getting louder. I could see the person's shadow approaching, creeping up slowly on the ground.

Then the figure passed by the cell bars, strolling by casually. I took in the slight physique, the young height, the lightly spiked blonde hair.

"_Roxas!_"

The blonde Nobody jumped at the sound of my voice, spinning around to face my cell. "Raxmi?" he questioned, moving closer to the door. "What – why did they put you in there?"

I opened my mouth to respond, but a shift in the air next to Roxas caught my attention. Wisps of darkness started to rapidly slink into the air, signalling that a portal was forming. Roxas took a step back as a tall, eminent man with dull, shoulder-length silver hair. His mere presence emitted an ominous aura that gave me an urge to run far away, dig a hole, and hide in it. Whoever this man was, he was important. He looked down at Roxas with that _look_ that all authorities tend to have.

"Roxas. Do you know this girl?" he inquired. His voice was deep and articulated.

Okay, if he wasn't so menacing, I would laugh. Honestly, if a turtle could speak, that's what it would sound like.

"I...um...no, Superior."

I had a feeling that Roxas would say that to protect himself and me, but it was still a struggle to prevent a hurt looking from flashing across my face. The mystery-man narrowed his eyes faintly, and glanced at me. "I've never seen him before," I confirmed. So I was right. This man was Roxas's Superior.

The mystery-man nodded. "As you were, Roxas," he ordered, still facing me. Roxas seemed torn, glancing back and forth between me and the man, like he was choosing whether to obey him or stay.

His reluctant footsteps rang in my ears when he made up his mind.

The mystery-man waited until Roxas had definitely left before speaking again. "What do you know about us?"

"Nothing," I replied. The mystery-man stared at me, his eyes boring into my skull. '_Oh no, he doesn't believe me, he's going to keep me here forever or torture me or feed me to lions or something...'_

To my surprise, he suddenly smirked ever-so-slightly. "I hope you enjoy your stay here, Miss Raxmi," he said, just tad bit too politely.

"How did you know my na–" He raised his hand in response, creating a portal for himself.

As the mystery-man vanished from my sight, I saw a small shift in the shadows near him, like a portal was forming. _'He must be using some kind of advanced portal._' I thought glumly.

* * *

**Roxas's P.O.V.**

'_Argh! Why didn't I stand up for her?! She tried to hide it, but she was hurt. Axel's gonna kill me for not helping her. Does he know about this? No. That's impossible. He wouldn't agree to this. But...Xigbar told me and Xion that he went somewhere last night...could he have...? No. He wouldn't. I have to tell him!'_

* * *

**? P.O.V.**

He didn't look up as I returned. "Did she see you?" he questioned, not bothering with a greeting.

I shook my head. "She saw my portal at the last minute. Judging by her face, I think she assumed it was part of Xemnas's."

He merely hummed in response and went back to his work.

He means a lot to me. But sometimes, I hate him.


	10. Knight In Shining Armour

**RECAP:**

**? P.O.V.**

He didn't look up as I returned. "Did she see you?" he questioned, not bothering with a greeting.

I shook my head. "She saw my portal at the last minute. Judging by her face, I think she assumed it was part of Xemnas's."

He merely hummed in response and went back to his work.

He means a lot to me. But sometimes, I hate him.

* * *

**STORY STARTS:**

**Axel's P.O.V.**

I leaned against the sun-baked clay of a store. Or was it stone? _'Eh, whatever.' _As the morning sun – it didn't make much of a difference – started rising, I gazed at the meagre scatterings of Twilight Town citizens, unfocused on any of them. My mind was preoccupied on what had happened earlier that night. Here's what happened...

* * *

I had gone to Raxmi's house. I'd left for Twilight Town at about 1am, but it was only three hours of dawdling later that I actually went there. Call me a stalker, but that girl had been on my mind for the past two weeks. It was getting irritating. But, at the same time, I kinda...liked it?

Well, I know what I'm trying to say. It doesn't really matter if you do.

So, I had gone to her house and looked through the windows until I saw her. She was sleeping. Just looking at her again made me feel something strange inside me. The feeling grew as the seconds ticked by. After a minute or so, I was starting to feel like that creepy vampire what's-his-name – the one that watches Belle sleep – from those damn Twilight movies. Urgh. As I turned away, I had heard something shuffling about her room. "Axel?"

I'd spun around again, and I couldn't help but smile. She looked so sweet, all bedraggled and half-asleep. Pushing the window open as far as the safety latches would allow it, she had stared at me questioningly. "What are you doing here?" she had asked, tilting her head.

I'd smirked, crossing my arms. "Just thought I'd swing by, is all. Why? Not happy to see the perfection that's my face?"

Her eyebrows had furrowed as she processed my words. "Did you stalk my house?" she had asked bluntly.

An awkward feeling had suddenly filled the air. "_Stalk_ is such a harsh word, Raxmi," I had stated smoothly.

She had blinked a little, and then shook her head, as if to clear it. "Can I help you with something, Axel? Or did you just want to watch me sleep?"

'_Blunt...must be like this when she wakes up...' _I had thought. "No, no. I just thought I'd see if you where awake. To say hey." _'Really? Is that the best you can do, Axel?' _I had mentally slapped myself.

Raxmi had nodded slowly. "Well, I'd let you in...but the window's got safety latches and my door is locked from the outside."

She was inviting me inside. Hell yeah. "I can make a portal if you want me t-"

"No!" she had said hastily. "I'm not inviting you in." I had raised my eyebrows in surprise. That was...harsh. For her. "I mean," she had clarified, "if my dad caught you in here, he'd get really annoyed."

My eyes had narrowed. "How annoyed?"

Raxmi had looked surprised, like she hadn't expected me to press further. "He'd just...I guess he'd just ground me or something."

I wasn't buying it. Then – stupid, stupid, stupid! – the next question blurted out of my mouth before I even knew it had crossed my mind. "Does he abuse you?"

A look of shock and anger had settled on her delicate features. "How could you say that?" she had asked, sounding enraged. "No! My dad would never hurt me!"

I had raised my hands in surrender, sorry that I had even mentioned anything. "Hey, I'm sorry, I just assumed –"

"You assumed that my own father would hurt me, even though you hardly know me."

I had pointed a finger at her. "Exactly. You took the words right out of my mouth!" I grinned at her.

The window was shut and the curtains were drawn in response.

* * *

So, back to the present. I glared irritation at the sun, which had conveniently decided to rise above a building and blind me.

Something had seemed off. Okay, I don't really have the right to say that. I don't even know her favourite colour. Red, maybe? Anyway. A logical *cough*boring*cough* person like Zexion would say, _"This particular female and I are barely acquaintances; it is highly possible that this supposedly erratic behaviour is of common nature to her." _Does he read the dictionary for fun?

Well, I don't care. Call it intuition, call it gut instinct. I think – no, I _know_ – that something was different about her. It's possible that she was just grumpy because she had woken up, me accusing her father of abuse probably didn't help. I still can't believe I said that.

I have to think carefully about my next move. It's likely that, after this, she doesn't want to talk to me. '_Judging from the little information that I know about her, I should wait at least until sunset tonight to talk to her aga–'_

"Axel!"

My best friend's voice rang out loudly in the Tram Common as he approached me. "What are you doing here? I've been looking all over for you!" Roxas pried, leaning on his knees to catch his breath.

"I went to see Raxmi, thanks to you and Xion bugging me about liking her," I said, half-scowling-half-smiling. "She totally brushed me off, by the way. Thanks."

He shot up at the sound of her name. "When was that?" he demanded. I raised an eyebrow at him. This kid never demands anything.

"Just half an hour ago. Why?"

Confusion filled his eyes. "That's impossible. I just talked to her at The Castle That Never Was an hour ago."

That caught my attention. "How can that be? _I_ just talked to her."

"Well, you must've imagined it! Xemnas has her prisoner in the cells at The Castle!"

Fury built up inside me as I slowly pushed myself off the wall. What kind of sick game is this twisted Organization playing on me? "You mean to tell me that the Superior locked Raxmi in a cell, and I was talking to thin air?" I said, slamming a hand onto the wall that I had been leaning on.

Roxas took a step back; he knows how I get when I'm angry. "I'm not sure who you were talking to, but I know what I saw. She called out to me! I asked her how she got there, but Xemnas came then and ordered me to leave."

"And you just_ left_ her there with him?" I growled. Okay, this isn't Roxas's fault, but I gotta have some way of letting my anger out.

Something else crossed my mind. The way Raxmi was acting. I knew it. I knew it wasn't really her! It must've been an illusion, which means...

"Zexion." I clenched my fists. "That motherfu-"

"Set fire to him later," Roxas interrupted, before I could corrupt a small child's ears. He dragged me into an alley, away from the people, and made portal. "Xemnas might still be there, so this will take you to the entrance to the dungeon floors. Don't let him see you."

I opened my mouth, but he cut me off. "No matter how mad you are, you can't take him on. You'd never win, and Raxmi will be stuck. Just get her out of there!"

I shook my head as I stepped into the portal. "You two should just employ me as a full-time hero," I smirked.

* * *

A cold, chilly air swept over me when I arrived at the dungeon. I cracked my knuckles as I began stalking down the hallways. Screw their rank or powers – if someone gets in my way now, they're going to have hell to pay.

As I passed the first cell, which was empty, I realized that I had a problem. Roxas told me that Raxmi was in a cell down here, but he failed to mention _which_ cell. There were exactly 130 cells, and she could be in any one of them. I let out a frustrated growl and pounded my fist against the wall, ignoring the immediate aching sensation.

Think, Axel, think. If I were Xemnas or Zexion, whoever it was that took her, which cell would I put her in? I hissed through my teeth and closed my eyes, putting myself in their shoes.

..._'Nope. Not gonna work.' _Checking each cell will be faster than thinking this through.

10, 20, 30. She wasn't in them. 40, 50, 60. Not there either. 70, 80, 90. I was beginning to wonder if Roxas had sent me on a wild goose chase. By the time I reached Cell No. 94, I had to pause to catch my breath. _'Where is she?'_

_Tap-tap._

I remained as I was, one hand on the wall, one hand on my hip. Not turning to face the sound, my eyes darted to the side, straining to catch even the smallest movement.

There. A dark shadow shifted ever-so-slightly, to blend in with the other shadows. Someone was definitely there.

I carried on, walking briskly. I only glanced quickly at the cells, which were empty, so that I could keep my gaze on the shadows. This person was definitely following me. It had to be Zexion. He was the best one around here at blending in with his surroundings

After I looked into Cell No. 101, I had made up my mind. I knew Zexion well enough to predict his attacks and defences. He's a higher rank than me, but even if I don't defeat him, I can at least injure him, or confuse him enough to buy me time, enough time to find Raxmi.

Cell No. 102 was approaching as I flung the first fireball in his direction. Zexion immediately slipped out off the shadows, teleporting away. His hood was up, but I knew he was smirking.

I stuck out my arms, letting flame engulf my hands and forearms. They grew into an inferno, spinning and popping, and when it reached its peak, they vanished in flash, leaving me with my beloved chakrams. I lifted my head and returned Zexion's smirk. This'll be fun.

Darkness swallowed up the whole room, eliminating our sense of sight. '_No problem._' I flicked my wrists, lighting up the room with tongues of fire. Now I could see Zexion, standing a few feet away from me, weapon in hand.

Hmm. Interesting. He wasn't wielding his heavy Lexicon. Instead, he held a Keyblade in his hands. "New technique, Zexion?" I commented, twirling my chakrams casually in my grasp.

He waited a moment before replying. "Since when have you been interested in my abilities, Axel?"

I let out a dry laugh. "Never. Just making polite conversation, is all."

Zexion scoffed and charged for me, delivering fast, precise thrusts with his Keyblade replication. I responded instantly, blocking all his attacks with my chakrams. We traded attacks and blows in a set rhythm. He was artful, jumping and dodging the fire, which I was blasting at him randomly. Always the crafty fighter, he would slip behind me in an attempt to catch me off guard, to end this quickly. Unusual. Normally he would drag the fight out. Maybe he has something else up his sleeve.

Minutes ticked by, until I could finally keep my hold on the upper hand. "You really think you can throw me off with that excuse of a replication?" I taunted, winding my chakrams around to lock the Keyblade between them. I tugged at the Keyblade harshly, making him lunge forward as he lost his balance.

A small, almost unnoticeable spark flickered at the tips of my fingers, and it soon spread onto our weapons. It wouldn't burn him, but he didn't need to know that. But, rather than panicking in desperation, like I thought he would, he merely teleported away. I stumbled slightly when the Keyblade vanished, and I began to turn around to find him again. _'When that kid is out of your sight, you're in trouble.'_

As if to prove my point, I was forced to freeze in my tracks as I felt something press against my coat. A chakram was held at my throat, another was digging into my spine. Zexion had replicated my own weapons. Sneaky bastard.

I could practically hear smugness radiating off Zexion. "You were saying?" he sneered, jabbing the chakram further into my back, nearly making a hole in my coat.

"If you tear my coat, you're paying for a new one," I chuckled.

Zexion merely let out a 'humph' in response. "Any last words, Axel?" he questioned.

My eyes narrowed. Zexion out to kill? He's not usually the type to spill blood. Why is he guarding Raxmi so fiercely? Unless... "You're not just guarding her, are you?" I stated. "You're trying to protect her."

"W-what?"

Oh, hey, I distracted him. That was unintentional. Sweet. "Don't try to deny it, you have your eye on her, don't you?"

"I – no!"

While he was still coming up with a legitimate response, I flung my head back as far as I could, giving him a hard knock on the head and a facefull of razor sharp spikes. The chakram that had had my neck pinned clattered to the ground as he clutched his eye, dazed and half-blinded. I lurched forward and ignited my chakrams, swinging them at him with precise aim. One of them sliced through his coat at his waist and left a long, scorched rip. Blood slowly started trickling of the wound.

Zexion let out a frustrated noise and started fading away. I knew he wasn't dying; he was just running away. Hah. "You're paying for my new coat, Axel," he mimicked me.

"Don't count on it," I shot back.

"Hmph." He finally left altogether, leaving me alone. I only took a second to catch my breath before taking off again in search of Raxmi.

* * *

It was at Cell No. 121 that I heard a sound. It sounded like animal was dying inside one of the cells. "Why did they lock an animal in there?" I muttered, rolling my eyes. I glanced inside to see if it was alright, then did a double-take. "Raxmi!"

Her head shot up, deep green eyes locking with mine. "Axel!" she yelped, running up to the cell door. My hands clasped around hers as she grasped the bars, and a strange jolt went up my arms. _'The hell?'_

"Hang on, I'm getting you out of here," I ordered. I portalled into the cell and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close to transport us both away. Just before we left, I swung my head around. "Where's the animal?"

She blinked a little. "Animal?"

"The animal that I heard in here, it sounded like it was hurt," I explained in exasperation. I didn't give a shit about any animal, I just knew that she'd want to save the poor thing.

She gasped in shock. "Are you insulting my singing?" she demanded.

'_Oh...oops.' _"No, no, I just...I thought there..." I racked my brain to find a way out before giving up. "Okay, yes, your singing sounds terrible."

Playful anger lit up in her eyes. "No, it doesn't!"

I smirked at her. "Yes, it does."

She hung her head in shame. "Yeah, I know," she mumbled. I laughed and tightened my grip around her, teleporting away.

* * *

**? P.O.V.**

I arrived back at our base, clutching my eye with one hand and stopping the light flow of blood from the wound that that pyro gave me. I gritted my teeth in irritation as _he_ entered the room and looked me over with a judgemental eye. "He injured you?" he said, like it was a statement and not a question.

"He distracted me," I sighed, unzipping my cloak to examine the wound. "He thought I was Zexion."

He raised an eyebrow. "Did you replicate any of their weapons?"

I nodded in response, still occupied with my wound. At least it wasn't deep; it probably wouldn't even need stitches.

"How many times have I told you to replicate a useful weapon or power, right from the start?" he sighed, rubbing his temple. "It's lucky that you managed to convince him that you were Number Six."

Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I lowered my hood. "Can I rest now?" I asked. Today's events had worn me out.

"No," he said shortly. He pulled my arm, not harshly, and led me to the next room. "We need to work on your replication powers."

I scowled. "You can't expect me to have it down perfectly. You only taught it to me two weeks ago, after Xigbar confronted Raxmi. There's no point to it. I can just use my own powers, I don't need this replication mumbo-jumbo," I pointed out.

He shook his head. "All the more reason to practice. Besides, it came in handy today, didn't it? Now, practice Luxord's power." He waved his hand, signalling for me to begin training.

I let out a frustrated growl under my breath, summoning cards around me. All I wanted to do was rest. But at least he wasn't making me practice with Lexaeus's weapon."

"And after that, you can practice with Number Five's weapon."

Shit.

**A/N: Woot! And early update! (For me, anyway.) To Wattpad readers: If you didn't read my message that was broadcasted to all fans, **_**please**_** respond to this and comment with your answer this question. Would you like someone else to fall for Raxmi? If so, who? Note that Raxmi probably won't get involved with them, but I have something planned.**

**In case it was hard to understand, here's a basic summary of what just happened. Axel went to talk to Raxmi (which is what he meant when he said he had something to do at the end of Chapter 8). He realized later that he had talked to an illusion from Zexion. When he went to save Raxmi from the Castle cells, he got in a fight with who he thought was Zexion. But it wasn't actually Zexion. Get it? Yay! ^.^**


	11. Unspoken Confessions

** A/N: Here's a longer chapter for you guys! There's more of ?'s P.O.V., and on Wattpad, Roxas won the poll that I had. More info at the end.**

** In ?'s P.O.V., when he/she says ****_'he'_****, he/she is talking about the guy that he/she is working for, the one that Raxmi had stolen from at the start of the story.**

**RECAP:**

Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I lowered my hood. "Can I rest now?" I asked. Today's events had worn me out.

"No," he said shortly. He pulled my arm, not harshly, and led me to the next room. "We need to work on your replication powers."

I scowled. "You can't expect me to have it down perfectly. You only taught it to me two weeks ago, after Xigbar confronted Raxmi. There's no point to it. I can just use my own powers, I don't need this replication mumbo-jumbo," I pointed out.

He shook his head. "All the more reason to practice. Besides, it came in handy today, didn't it? Now, practice Luxord's power." He waved his hand, signalling for me to begin training.

I let out a frustrated growl under my breath, summoning cards around me. All I wanted to do was rest. But at least he wasn't making me practice with Lexaeus's weapon.

"And after that, you can practice with Number Five's weapon."

Shit.

**STORY STARTS:**

** *Raxmi's P.O.V.***

The darkness lifted like a fog, giving me a plain view of Axel's room. "Welcome to Casa del Axel!" the redhead next to me announced with a fake tone of grandeur, removing his hand from my hip. I almost shivered from the sudden loss of heat.

"Sorry I didn't take you home yet," he added, seeing my expression. "But Xemnas has most likely already been alerted that you're gone, since I had to fight another member of ours to reach you. He might've sent somebody to search for you in Twilight Town. It's best that you wait out in here for a while until he's calmed down."

My eyes swept around the room, taking in every detail. There was a single bed, and the head with its funky looking headboard – which I recognized as the Nobody symbol – was against one wall. A large, rectangular window took up a section of the wall parallel left to the bed, and a door was on the right. The walls had pipes and a strange pattern of thick, hollow lines running all along it. Apart from a few other placed haphazardly around, the room was plain. And there was grey, grey, grey. _Everywhere._

A smile grew on my lips as Axel flopped down onto his bed. "Typical guy's room," I commented.

He sat up immediately and smirked at me. "'Typical guys room'?" he repeated. "Pray enlighten me as to what's so typical about my humble abode."

I slid one arm behind my back and pointed out things with my free hand while I talked. "The unmade bed. The papers and crumbs scattered on your desk. The complete lack of books on your shelf. And the fact that the whole room itself is devoid of all colour."

Axel stood up to defend himself, crossing his arms. "Okay, first of all, my bed is not _unmade_."

"Looks like it to me."

He rolled his eyes and gestured to the bed. "The pillows are at the head of the bed and the sheets are on the mattress. What more can a person do?

I stared at him, slightly shocked. "Are you saying you don't know how to make a bed?"

He mirrored the look on my face. "There's a process?" he said mockingly.

_'Must...not...make...bed,'_ I told myself fiercely, fighting my inner-clean freak. I bit my lip and focused my gaze on a wall.

"Problem, Raxmi?" Axel enquired, leaning in and peering at my face teasingly.

"..." I pushed past him and made my way to his bed. I yanked the duvet down and pulled the flat sheet up, folding it over and tucking it in. Pulling the duvet up again, I smoothed down the cloth and fluffed up the pillows, placing them neatly in the right place. It took less than two minutes.

I turned and faced Axel again, who had been watching me intently. "And that's how you make a bed," I said in explanation.

The expression on his face was unreadable. Then his mouth twitched a little and he hurridly glanced away. "Fine, then, but the rest of the room is perfectly hygienic."

"You call _that_ 'perfectly hygienic'?" I repeated, pointing at his desk.

"I don't see a problem."

"...You can't be serious."

"...Deadly."

I marched over to his desk and started straightening the papers, shuffling them neatly in to piles. Once that was done, I began sweeping the crumbs – I think they were cookie crumbs – into a tissue I had found in the pocket of my jeans. Satisfied that the desk was clean for now, I tossed the tissue into the rubbish bin that was positioned under it. I turned around and saw Axel behind me, with a strange look on his face. "See that?" I pointed to the desk. "_That_ is almost clean. If you wipe it down with disinfectant and a cloth, _then _it will 'perfectly hygienic'." I cocked my head and I took in his expression. "What's so funny?" I asked him.

"Nothing, nothing," he assured me, even though he was obviously holding back a smile.

"But you're laughing."

"No, no, I'm not."

What's up with him? I glanced down at my clothes to see if I had stained them somehow.

After showing him how to clean several other things, he smiled innocently at me. Well, not really innocently. It just made him look suspicious. "By the way..." He nodded towards a pile of shirts, carelessly tossed on the floor near the foot of his bed. "Do you know how to fold those? Because I have no clue whatsoever."

I sighed and picked up the first one – a short sleeved, black muscle shirt with red flames, preparing to demonstrate how to fold a shirt to this man, who apparently had no clue as to how to clean anything.

I tried not to let a dreamy look come over my face as I pictured the red-head next to me wearing the muscle shirt. _'Heehee.'_

"So you take this corner of the shirt," I started, grabbing one end of the clothing item, "and then you just take the other end and turn it, so that the –"

A snigger cut me off in my tracks. Why was he laughing? This was the best part!

"Now what?" I sighed.

"Nothing, I –" A fresh wave of laughter erupted through him; he was literally shaking with laughter.

I crossed my arms in irritation. "_What?_"

Axel smirked at me. "Well, for one, that you stared at that shirt for about ten seconds like you wanted to make love to it. Don't worry, I look even better in it than you were imagining."

Oops.

"And second," he added, letting out another chuckle, "you just cleaned my room without me even telling you to."

What? I looked around the room, finally noticing what I'd just done. I'd made his bed, cleared his desk, dusted his shelf, hung up several of his coats, sorted out his dressing table – with had been littered with hair products – for him, and wiped down the window. _'Son of a –' _"You actually made me _clean your room_ after I was captive for days?!" I demanded, outraged.

He held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, you weren't even down there for six hours. You weren't going to die."

"So you didn't care that I was down there, because _obviously_ it had only been six hours and I wasn't going to die."

"What? No! Of course I cared!"

"Then what took you so long?"

"_What took me so long?_" I could practically see anger boiling up inside him. "How about the fact that I thought you were at home, laughing at me? Or that I had to search one-hundred and twenty cells? Or that one of my friends tried to kill me just to stop me from getting to you?"

Now it was me who was holding up my hands. "Axel, calm down," I reassured him, "I was just joking."

Axel glared at me. "What?"

"I was just joking," I repeated. "I know you did your best. And you found me super-fast. No one else could've done what you did."

He scowled lightly, but I could tell that he was calming down. "That wasn't funny," he grumbled, sitting down on his bed and a light blush covering his cheeks..

"I know. Sorry."

Waving a hand, he didn't look up. "Don't apologize. I'm just kinda...sensitive right now, I guess."

I raised an eyebrow. "You? Sensitive?"

He let out a short laugh, lying down and flinging his arms behind his head. "I know, right? Even I'm surprised." He sighed and closed his eyes. "You're sure you're okay?"

"Mmhm, I'm fine," I replied, smiling, even though he couldn't see me. I sat down next to him, near his waist. "So...you cared that I was gone, you felt angry, you felt embarrassed, you felt sensitive, and you felt surprised, all within a minute."

Axel opened one eye lazily. "Your point?" he pressed.

"You told me when we first met that you don't have a heart, and that you couldn't feel emotions. But you just went through so many in such a short time, just because of me. Are you _sure_ you can't feel anything?"

He sighed again and opened his eyes fully. "You're trying to tell me that my Superior tricked me into believing that I don't have a heart. Are you forgetting that you couldn't feel my pulse, the first time we met?"

"Maybe I just didn't have my hand in the right place," I protested. "Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that you've _never_ felt any kind of emotion since you've joined this cult? Never had a tense feeling when you're in a dangerous situation, never felt calm after the moment passed?"

"It's not a cult, Raxmi," he said, smirking, ignoring the question.

I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. "That's not an answer, Axel!"

"Well, don't get your hopes up," he replied. "Because I don't have one for you."

I grinned at him triumphantly. "You don't have an answer, because you know I'm right."

"No. Because you're confusing the hell out of me and I can't think straight."

"Hmph." I crossed my arms.

Axel sighed and sat up straight. Seated flush against my side, he was incredibly close, just like when we were in the portal. I automatically blushed, but he either didn't notice or pretended not to. Probably the former. He took my hand in his, and I noticed how big his was compared to mine. "If you must know, I think –"

A knock at the door nearly made me fall off the bed. "Damn it," he muttered. 'Damn it?' Why should care? Whoever it was, they were probably here for me!

"It's Xemnas! He's come to kill me!" I hissed in a panicked whisper, only noticing a moment later that I had attached myself to Axel's arm with a death grip to steady myself. _'I'll regret the awkwardness later...'_

"Calm down, we don't know who it is," he reassured me, as he tugged me to his closet and pushed me inside. "Wait here, and don't make a noise until it's safe." Without warning, he slammed the door shut, leaving me in the dark, cramped space filled with cloaks, shirts, and pants.

_'At least they're all clean_,' I thought in relief.

I heard Axel opening the door to his room. "Oh! Hey, Roxas. Hey, Demyx."

I practically fell out of the closet in excitement. "Hi, guys!" I greeted gleefully.

Demyx waved cheerfully from where he was standing in the doorway. "Hi, Axel! Hi Raxmi! Roxas told me you might be here!" he exclaimed.

Roxas smiled at me happily. "Axel got you out! That's great, I'm really glad you're safe."

Axel scowled at me. "Didn't I just say to not make a noise until it's safe?" he reminded me.

"It's Roxy and Demmy!" I pointed out. "How much safer could they be?"

Roxas sighed and rolled his eyes at the nickname. Demyx looked baffled. Axel simply grabbed Demyx and tugged him into the room, waiting for Roxas to follow before slamming the door shut and turning to me. "You see this face, Raxmi?" he said, squishing the musical Nobody's face with one hand. "It's filled with confusion and slowness. This one could easily be duped into baiting you out of a room, without even realizing that he was the bait."

"Mmmmph!" Demyx wrestled free of Axel's grasp and massaged his face "That hurt!"

"Cry me a river."

"Fine," I agreed, "next time I'll be more careful."

Roxas subtly nudged Demyx, who then jumped and started talking rapidly. "Oh, yeah! Axel, can I discuss something random with you while Roxas keeps Raxmi company so that she doesn't get bored as you and I discuss whatever I think of?"

The younger blonde closed his eyes and sighed in exasperation.

Now Axel was the one who looked confused. "Uh...what?"

"I mean," Demyx corrected himself, while squinting at words scrawled untidily on his hand, making Roxas sigh again, "I have some important information involving Raxmi's captain...I mean, Raxmi's capture...that you should know about. I think it would be a good idea if Raxmi hung out with rock cake...I mean, Roxas...while we disgrace...I mean, discuss...this information."

Axel narrowed his eyes and glanced suspiciously at Roxas, who fidgeted uncomfortably. "All right, then. Let's discus this...information."

"Great!" Demyx chirped, and pushed me lightly in Roxas's direction. "You guys have fun!"

"Sure..." I said, looking back and forth between Roxas and Demyx. What were they planning?

Roxas, who had been glaring at Demyx, suddenly brightened up. "Uh, yeah! Let's go," he said, taking my arm and leading me out of the room.

Well, this is strange.

* * *

**Axel's P.O.V.**

I shut the door behind Raxmi and Roxas as they left, wondering why my best friend had made a plan with Demyx to talk to Raxmi. _'He thought I wouldn't notice, with a brilliantly amazing mind like mine?'_

I decided to play along, and turned to that idiot, Demyx. "So, what's this about Xemnas?" I asked casually, keeping my guard up.

Demyx gave me a closed-eye smile in response. "Oh, there's nothing to tell! Roxas just wanted to be alone with Raxmi."

"You don't say?" I asked dryly. _'What is that kid up to?'_ I wondered, glancing at where Roxas had been standing a few moments ago.

He nodded eagerly. "I know, it wasn't obvious at all, the way we played it –"

"Not at all," I agreed, making the sarcasm in my voice clearly evident.

Apparently, he didn't notice, because he carried on talking. "Yeah! I was practicing all afternoon! It's all in the rehearsal, you see."

"Naturally."

"Because, like, it's really difficult to just launch into these kinda things with about being prepared, right?"

"Absolutely."

"I mean, the only person I know who's really good at that it Zexion, but of course, that's his power and all. Ha-ha!"

"Oh, of course." I'd stopped listening a while ago, so I let Demyx ramble on about his dreams of acting as I went back to what Raxmi had said earlier, about my heart. Could it be possible, that Xemnas was lying to us? That we really did have hearts? _'Of course it's possible. It's Xemnas,'_ a voice said in my head.

But why would he lie to us? Is he that desperate to make Kingdom Hearts stronger?

It's strange how I'd never thought about all this before Raxmi came along. Then again, I'd never questioned it before. And I've felt more emotions in the past few days around her than at any other time. Roxas makes me feel something, yes, but Raxmi...it's something different. Man, I've been thinking a lot lately. I should be getting paid for this.

Hey, speaking of Roxas...

"So, Demyx?" I asked, cutting him off. "What was the plan?"

"Oh! Roxas came to me earlier today and he told me that Xemnas had ordered Raxmi to be captured but you were rescuing her so everything would be okey-dokey so he asked me if I could keep you occupied with my rambling so that you would zone out and get preoccupied in your own thoughts so that he could be alone with Raxmi because he has a crush on her so I'm supposed to talk about whatever comes to my mind which is really easy because I've always had a –"

"Wait, _what_?" I cut him off again, realizing what he'd said. "Say that bit again?"

"I'm supposed to talk about whatever –"

"Before that!"

"Oh. So that you would zone out and get preoccupied in your own thoughts so that he could be alone with Raxmi because he has a crush on her."

What? How? Why?

"Why would you do that?" I demanded angrily, grabbing Demyx by the shoulders.

The water Nobody looked downright terrified. "Wh-what did I do?"

I grabbed the front of his cloak and yanked him toward me. "If you know that a guy, aka _me_, likes a girl, you do _not_ make a plan with his best friend and encourage that best friend to make a move on said girl."

"B-but you said you didn't like her..." The guy was practically shaking now.

"'I said I didn't like her'?" I repeated, deliberately saying it slowly to scare him.

"Yeah, y-you had told me she was just a f-friend..."

"Of course I like her, you idiot! _Don't you know by now that every second sentence I say is a lie?"_

"But then...how do I know if that's true if it could be a lie?"

"Oh, for the love of..." I shoved him away and stormed out my door. I couldn't blame Roxas; I _had_ denied many times that I had feelings for Raxmi, so there was no reason why he shouldn't have thought not to make a move if he liked her. But that doesn't mean I'm not selfish enough to stop him.

Yeah, yeah, I'm despicable. Not exactly a news flash to me.

* * *

**? P.O.V.**

Having made my way through the mind-boggling layout of The Castle That Never Was, I made sure my hood was up before entering Xemnas's empty office. _He_ had given me a simple mission: get in, plant a bug in Xemnas's office, get out. Hopefully, Organization XIII's leader wouldn't have an urge to check this room for hidden microphones anytime soon.

I carefully placed the tiny surveillance device under Xemnas's desk, double checking that it was secure. It nearly fell off a few times, but I finally managed to make it stick. _'It might fall off again though...maybe if there's clear duct tape or something in here, I could –'_

"How did she escape?"

_'Shit!'_ I could hear two people approaching the office, their voices' carrying down the hall. Making a portal was definitely not an option; I have no idea whether or not they could sense that kind of thing. I dove into a nearby closet, leaving the door open a crack, just as they entered the room. With any luck, they would take a few papers or something and leave within a few minutes.

I heard the door click shut and Xemnas came into my view, seating himself in the white throne-like chair behind his desk. "I am not sure how or when she got out," he replied to the second man, who was too far on the other end of the room to see. "However, the barrier that I had erected around the bars had not been broken, so I assume she escaped by means of a portal."

"A portal?" the other man repeated. Now I recognized the voice – it was Number VII, Saix. "Then that means one of our own might have assisted her breakout."

"Perhaps."

They must be talking about that girl, the one who had stolen from _him_ a few weeks ago. At first, the cheapskate had been determined to make her pay for what she had stolen. But recently, he told me to watch her and make sure no one harmed her. I have no idea what could've brought on that change. It annoyed me; what was so special about _her_, that she suddenly required attention? We have more important things to worry about than a random girl from Twilight Town. I don't know what he sees in her.

Nonetheless, I had done what he said and kept an eye on her. When 'Axel' had taken her to The Castle That Never Was early this morning, I followed them to make sure nothing happened. Good thing I did, as it had turned out to be Zexion. Since there was no point in rescuing her – she'd know that I had been following her, she would have to come back with me, she might have alerted the Organization of my presence – I simply stayed nearby, hiding in the shadows and watching.

I knew Axel would have shown up at some point, but this girl was wasting my time. I took the risk and left her alone for a moment, knowing that Roxas would be in the Grey Area. I summoned a duplicated Lexicon to make him think I was The Cloaked Schemer, kept my hood up, and told him that Saix wanted him to check the cells for potential threats. Lame excuse, I know, but it was off the top of my head. Of course, he found the girl quickly, and, as I had predicted, he went to fetch his best friend.

In all honesty, I hadn't been expecting Axel to fight me. I didn't think that he'd spot me; I'm practically an expert at hiding myself. It was lucky that I had practiced Zexion's powers so much, because he instantly assumed that I was Number VI. Cards were played, the dice was thrown, whatever. Obviously, I got out alive. And now it seems that he managed to successfully rescue the girl. I actually would've preferred for her to stay in there. That way I would always know where she was, and I wouldn't have to waste my time when I have more important things to do.

"Why 'perhaps'? Do you have another theory?" Saix asked.

Xemnas breathed out slowly and seemed to collect his thoughts, closing his eyes for a moment before opening them again. "I believe she could have summoned the portal on her own."

I heard Saix scoff. "You mean to tell me this Raxmi girl can use darkness?"

_Raxmi_. So that's what her name is. What a stupid name. Alright, I admit that I'm purposely trying to find bad points about her. At least now I know that Xemnas is going to waste his time with a theory that isn't true, since Axel definitely rescued her.

...Or did he? I didn't actually see...argh, _he'll_ be listening this conversation right now, since the bug is in place, and he'll get pissed that 'I didn't witness everything unfold'.

"I'm not entirely sure," the Superior answered. "If we can locate her again, we might be able to find out more."

Suddenly, the office door burst open. "What's up, peeps?" a third person greeted.

"What now, Xigbar?" Saix asked, sighing.

I took the opportunity to leave while they were distracted. Otherwise, I would be here for a long time. I can hear the rest of the conversation back at the base, anyway.

* * *

**Raxmi's P.O.V.**

"So, what did Demyx have to tell Axel?" I asked Roxas as we walked through the confusing hallways.

"Oh...um...didn't you hear him?" he stuttered, rubbing his neck. "He overheard Xemnas talking about your capture, and he wanted to tell Axel what he heard."

We stopped walking and I raised my eyebrows, looking at him. "And I had to leave because...?"

"...You went through a traumatizing event."

"...You're a terrible liar."

Roxas sighed sheepishly and fixed his gaze on the floor. "Sorry..."

I shoved my hands in my pockets and started walking again. "No, don't apologize, it's fine. It's not like you're bad company, right?" I laughed, nudging him slightly.

He laughed a little as he fell into step beside me. "So," I said to him, "are you going to tell me why you tricked Axel?"

Roxas hesitated for a moment. "No, I can't right now...maybe later."

I shrugged and grinned at him. "Fine by me," I said, seeing that he was uncomfortable. A faint blush had started to creep up on his face. Aww! Impulsively, I reached out and pinched his cheek. "Are you blushing, Roxy?" I cooed, even though the answer was obviously.

"Hey, quit it!" He batted my hand away, rubbing his cheek and smiling.

We ended up in a very large room, which – of course – was completely grey. _'Because, apparently, their Superior only knows shades of gray.' _"This is the Grey Area," Roxas told me. Couches and tables and chairs were spread about the room, but no one was seated in them. They were probably all out on missions. One wall was solely a window, treating occupants of the room to a brilliant view of the night sky and... "Whoa!" I exclaimed, running to the window and planting my hands against the glass as I stared at what was in the sky.

I heard Roxas chuckling as he joined me by the window. "Impressive, isn't it?" he said, sounding like it was anything but that.

I didn't answer straight away, since I was still processing what was in front of me. An immensely large moon, unlike any other that I'd seen before, was glowing softly in the sky. It was in the shape of a heart – not the actual cardiac-muscle-in-your-body type of heart, it was the basic kind that you tend to draw. Some parts of it were a pale, serene yellow, while other patches darkened into an earthy brown. I tore my eyes away from it, scanning the sky for a light source, one that could give off enough light to make this extraordinary moon glow. There was none, however, and I realized that the 'power of hearts', whatever that was, was the moon's source of light. That also explained the tinges of deep pink that framed the moon.

"Is that–"

"Kingdom Hearts," Roxas confirmed.

I gazed at it in amazement. "It's so...wow."

Roxas was silent for a moment. "Hey, Raxmi?" When I didn't turn away from the window, he placed a hand on my shoulder. "Raxmi."

"Yeah?" I finally gave him my attention.

"About making that plan to get you out here...well...the truth is...I –"

A blur of red and black burst into the room, running up to join us. "Axel?" Roxas and I said, Roxas in shock and disappointment, me in surprise.

The Flurry Of Dancing Flames didn't offer any greetings or explanations, not even waiting to catch his breath, before grabbing me, pulling me close, and crashing his lips onto mine.

* * *

**A/N: Well, there you go! Over a month without updating, and when I do, it's 80% fluff. Because that's how I roll.**

** Thank you to my Wattpad readers who voted on the poll! It was a poll on which guy (besides Axel) should have feelings for Raxmi. Obviously, the winner is Roxas. I really shouldn't have bothered with a poll, I can't believe I didn't see that coming. I mean...ROXAS was an option. OF COURSE he was going to win. XD 9 votes out of 21. Riku was second, Zexion and Hayner-and-Roxas were third. So, Axel kissed Raxmi, and Roxas didn't get to tell Raxmi how he felt! Yay or nay?**

** '****_Their Superior only knows shades of gray'_****. ...I didn't notice the pun until later. Sorry for the shabby description of Kingdom Hearts! I haven't played KH2 (the only one I have *sobs*) for a few months and it's near impossible to find a decent picture. I thought I'd rip off what I'd written in Key To My Heart, but no~ It turned out I was too lazy to describe KH in that, and called it 'a colossal, off-white moon.' Che. Damn my slackness.**

** Just to clarify: Axel ****_did_**** rescue Raxmi, it's just that no one saw him. So no one knows how she got out except him, Raxmi, Roxas, and Demyx.**


	12. Flare Up My Heart

**A/N: What's this? Could it be...an UPDATE?! What's happening?! The sky is falling! Heh, anyway...**

**I'm sorry for not uploading this sooner. I completely forgot that I hadn't uploaded this story on this website (I'm also on Wattpad and Quizilla). So, so, so sorry! I hope you enjoy the chapter 3**

* * *

**STORY STARTS:**

**Raxmi's P.O.V.**

You know how, in romance novels, they say that a first kiss with someone is like fireworks on your lips, or like butterflies in your stomach, or like your heart is melting?

Axel's kiss took me by surprise. It lasted only a few seconds. But it was enough to prove to me that those novelists were wrong. A first kiss – _this_ first kiss – felt more like a teeny tiny spark was lit ever-so-quickly on my lips, and in those few seconds it spread into an over-flowing warmth that glowed from the top of my head to the ends of my toes. '_Well, what did you expect?' _ I thought._ 'Fire equals warmth. It's Axel kissing me, after all.'_

'_...Wait, Axel's kissing me?'_

I had only just realized what was happened. Before I could react, Axel was shoved away, leaving me with an indescribable feeling of dissatisfaction from the briefness of the kiss. My hand raised itself slowly to my mouth, since I was unsure of what else to do.

"What's your problem, Roxy?" Axel's slightly breathless voice brought me back to reality.

My eyes widened when I saw that is was Roxas who had ended the kiss. That small move by Axel had made me forget that he was even there. "You always do this! _Always_!" he yelled, to my surprise. I didn't know him well, but I knew Roxas was _not_ the type to raise his voice.

Axel seemed stunned too, though he tried to hide it. "Do what? Kiss girls?"

An angry glare came over Roxas's face. "Every time I work up my courage to do something, you always come swooping in with some grand entrance, like you purposely want me to be second! When we fight Heartless, you _never_ let me take the lead. When we complete missions, you _never_ let me get credit from Xemnas. When I try to find out more about what I am or what I've become, you _always_ shove aside what I say. Because there's _no_ way that the spotlight can be taken off you for more than five minutes!" He had taken steps closer to Axel with every accusing sentence. "It's always about you, isn't it? You, you, you, you, _you!_ Do have any idea how that makes me feel?"

"...Roxas, c'mon. You're acting like a girl."

Roxas let out a frustrated growl. In the blink of an eye, he had swung his arm back and collided his fist with his best friend's jaw, knocking Axel to the ground. "Roxas, stop it!" I cried out, grabbing the blonde by the arm before he could land another punch.

He looked me in the eye, and his expression softened. Unclenching his fist, he stepped away from Axel, leaving him slightly winded on the floor. As the redhead tried to collect himself, Roxas tentatively spoke up, so that only I could hear. "Um...Raxmi...what I was trying to say, before he came in, was that even though we've only talked a few times, I think I like y–"

Again, he was cut-off by Axel, who grabbed him by the hood of his cloak and yanked him back. "Easy there, tiger, you're suffering from word diarrhoea," he stated, with an easy half-smile on his lips and a glower in his eyes.

Roxas's eyes travelled up to Axel's rapidly swelling face and sighed quietly. "...Y-you like me?" I finished for him.

He let out a soft, rueful laugh and then turned away. "Yeah...but I suppose you're going to stick with Axel, anyway. Why would you leave someone like him for someone like me?" He shook his head and stuck his hands in his cloak pockets. "I'm sorry you had to see me act like that, Raxmi," he apologized, gesturing at Axel's jaw before making portal. "This didn't go as I had planned."

"Roxas..."

"It's okay, I understand." The portal was gone in a dark flash, taking him with it.

I turned slowly to Axel, who clutching his jaw with a guilty look on his face. Why should he feel guilty? Unless...

"You knew, didn't you? But you still came here and humiliated him."

He blinked, and took a moment to find the right words to say. "When you put it like that, you make it sound so harsh..."

I gasped and took a step back. "How could you do that to him? You two are best friends!"

"Me? He knew that I liked you first," he pointed out, scowling.

"Did he really?" I demanded, crossing my arms.

"...Maybe I _did_ deny it when he asked. But it was fairly obvious I was lying. He should've kept whatever hormonal feelings he had to himself."

I shook my head rapidly, trying to make sense of what he was saying. "You like me, but you denied it whenever Roxas asked, so he had every right to tell me how he felt. He didn't force me into anything; he didn't even finish his sentence! And he's not the one who kissed me! Yet you have the nerve to say that he should've keep his feelings to himself, even though _you're_ the one who did exactly what you're accusing him of. That's despicable, Axel!"

"Where are you going?" he said as I walked away.

"To go find Roxas!" I snapped, leaving the room. He didn't try to stop me.

I walked back to the bedrooms, hoping that I didn't get lost. As I walked, I tried to make sense of the situation by answering all the questions that were running through my mind, one by one. '_Am I happy that Axel kissed me?'_ Yes, I am. _'Do I like him back?' _Absolutely. _'Was it wrong of Axel to interrupt Roxas?' _Of course. _'Do I like Roxas?'_

That was the question I was having trouble with. I paused to think about it. Do I like Roxas? And if I feel like I do, then do I _actually_ like him, or do I just feel sorry for him? I groaned and banged my head against the wall. And people say girls are the complicated ones... .

Just when I approached Roxas's room, I realized that the answer was no. I didn't like Roxas, not in that way.

As much as I hated to admitted it, I decided that I had to friend-zone a perfectly kind, caring, sweet, and cute guy who has a crush on me, because of my feelings for a sneaky, persistent, hot-headed pyromaniac. Oh, my heart works in such wonderful ways...

I knocked hesitantly on the door marked 'XIII', mentally preparing myself to tell Roxas all of this. '_How do I start? What do I say if he gets mad? What if he hates me for this?'_

However, instead of being met with the dark sky-blue eyes of Roxas when the door opened, I was greeted with puppy-like teal blue eyes of The Melodious Nocturne. "Fey, Waxmi!" he said, his mouth stuffed full with food.

"Demyx?" I stretched to look over his shoulder, hoping that Roxas was behind him. "What are you doing here? Where's Roxas?"

Demyx swallowed hard and let out a happy sigh. "He lets me keep my cookie stash here!" he informed me with a closed-eye smile. "But now he's...hmm...I dunno where he's gone now. Oh, oh! Did you kids have a nice _conversation_ while he was keeping you company, huh?"

I sighed and looked down. "Not as nice as he planned it, apparently," I answered, crossing my arms and frowning. "Axel burst in and kissed me, then Roxas punched him, and then Axel and I kinda argued..."

A miserable look came over the water Nobody's face, like someone had just shot a kitten. "B-b-but it was supposed to be a happy moment..." he mumbled sadly. "He's been waiting to tell you for so long..."

A feeling of guilt washed over me. How could I break the news to him knowing that? "Don't feel bad, Demyx," I said, patting his arm. "It wasn't your fault!"

Demyx sighed, but then perked up. "Hey! You should try the clock tower in Twilight Town, at the Central Station. He goes there a lot, he could be there now!"

"Really? When's the next train there?"

Demyx grinned. "Don't be silly, Raxmi. Twilight Town's a different world, remember? I can make you a portal though!"

* * *

I stumbled a little as I tripped out of the portal, and then did a double take when I saw how high I was. Taking a precautious step back, I made my way to the front of the tower, where Demyx said Roxas would be.

The Clock Tower was a common place for teenagers to hang out, but they – miraculously – never left any mess, apart was a small '_Hayner was here!' _or '_Kyle n Ryu, skipping~!'_ scrawled in tiny print on the inside of the small wall that barricaded the edges of the level I was on. Seifer and I had been up here a few times with Rai and Fuu as well. But no one ever came here at this time of day, when the sun as low as it gets and a chilly breeze sweeps through the town. That must be why no one had ever run into Roxas, Axel, and Xion before.

Sure enough, the blonde boy was sitting on the edge, with his legs slung over the side and a half-eaten ice-cream bar dangling in his hand, threatening to melt and fall off the stick. "Careful!" I pointed out, seating myself next to him. "That might fall on someone's head and they'd die."

He jumped a little, but relaxed when he saw it was me. "They'd die?" he repeated, mouth twitching.

"Fine, maybe not _die_. But they'd' be pretty mad, right? They might try throwing a briefcase up here and end up getting whacked in the face when it comes back down."

Roxas chuckled and shook his head. "You're so weird," he commented.

"At least I don't go around wearing leather all day, every day."

"Hey!" he protested. "Loads of people do it, and I don't have a choice."

I held up my hand and smiled. "Sure, whatever you say!"

He shook his head again, and gazed out at the sunset. I figured now was as good a time as ever to bring up the topic that we were avoiding. "Roxas, about what happened..."

"It's okay," he interrupted with a sigh. "I've been thinking for a while...you like Axel, don't you?"

I bit my lip and nodded, wishing that I could say no, that he didn't have to be sad. But then that would be lying. "Are you mad?" I asked eventually.

Smiling ruefully, Roxas replied, "Mad? I _was_ mad when Axel kissed you. Selfish jerk..."

"Ooh, I didn't take you to be the type to call your friend a jerk," I said, smiling.

"Hey, this is an exception, right?" he said, justifying himself as he turned to me. "Anyway. I guess now I can see why he did it. Maybe he even knew that you felt the same way about him. If the roles were reversed...I think I would've done the same thing."

"...That's really mature of you to say, Roxas," I said quietly.

"I didn't feel very mature when I yelled at him," he grinned. "It kinda felt good to get that all out though. I know that's Axel's nature; he can't help how he behaves. To tell you the truth, Raxmi? I don't even mind that much about how he acts. I was just looking for an excuse to be madder, I guess."

"Hmm..."

He met my gaze but glanced away a second later, blushing. "So...I'd like to be friends i-if you want, but if you don't want to then I understand..."

I smiled at him and punched him lightly in the arm. "Or course we're still friends! I _want_ to be friends! Do you have any idea how worried I was that you'd never talk to me again?"

Roxas laughed, and then focused on the sunset again, taking a lick of his ice-cream to save what was left of it. "Hey, I bet you never know why the sun sets red."

I raised my eyebrows at the sudden change in subject, but I didn't object. "Why?"

He pointed out to the crimson-red sky. "Out of all the colours in light, red travels the farthest."

"Oh! That's cool." Then a thought came to me. "But then why is it only red at the end of the day? Why isn't it red all the time?"

"I...um..." He struggled for words. "Come on, I know you don't go to school and all, but didn't you pick this up in Seifer's homework or anything?"

"They learnt about this stuff in 6th Grade, I don't remember!"

Roxas laughed. "Well, you'll have to ask Axel. He's the one who told me about the colours in light."

My smile wavered at the thought of Axel. I felt bad for having yelled at him the way I did. "What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly. "Well...I kinda yelled at him and told him that he was a horrible person and a terrible friend."

His eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah...do you think _he's_ mad at me?"

To my surprise, Roxas burst out laughing. "It's not funny! I chastened him.

"Y-yes it is!" he insisted as he gasped for air. "He thinks you're a sweet, innocent person; I would've paid anything to see his face!" The thought of how his best friend would've reacted sent him into another fit of laughter.

"Roxas, it's _not funny_," I repeated, fighting back a grin. I really didn't find it humorous, but his laugh was infectious. "Seriously, do you think he's still at the castle? How do I apologize to him?"

"_Well, a great way to start would be, 'Oh, Axel, I'm so sorry I screamed at you like a crazy lady, I'll buy you ice-cream for the rest of my life to make up for my foolish behaviour.'."_

Roxas and I twisted around. "Speak of the devil," Roxas muttered, smiling smugly when he caught sight of Axel leaning against the wall.

"Roxas, I'm really sorry," Axel started, "I never meant to –"

"It's okay, really," he said quickly, getting up and holding out his hand. "No hard feelings?"

Axel smirked and grabbed Roxas's hand. "No hard feelings, buddy," he echoed, and pulled him into a man-hug, making me roll my eyes. _'Why can't men just shake hands, or just hug? Why both?"_

"I leave you two alone," Roxas said, and went around to the other side to go down the stairs, without saying goodbye.

No matter what he said, I had seen the sadness in his eyes while we were talking. He was hurt, but he was being a good friend and looking past his feelings. "He's a good person, isn't he?" I stated, mostly to myself. Then I glared mockingly at Axel. "Unlike _some_ people around here."

"Hey, I agree. Roxas is definitely the better person in our friendship," Axel commented, taking Roxas's seat for himself and making himself comfortable.

"How long have you guys been friends for?" I asked.

"...Nearly two-hundred days, I think."

I raised my eyebrows. "You keep track of the days?"

He smirked. "No, not me. Roxas has this weird obsession with keeping track of how many days he's been in the Organization. Today is one-hundred and ninety-two."

"At least you pay attention to that," I blurted out, then cursing myself. '_I'm not even mad at him anymore, why am I still trying to make him feel bad?'_

The half-smile was instantly wiped of Axel's face. "Just because I'm not going to win the most-compassionate-caring-kumbya singing-best friend award anytime soon, doesn't mean I don't care about him." Then he sighed. "You know what? Never mind. I don't –"

"– have to justify yourself to me," I finished, nodding. "I'm sorry, Axel. I didn't mean what I said, and I'm not angry at you. I'm just –"

"Oh, I see how it is!" he declared, stretching his arms. "You're just totally on fire for me and can only express your passionate emotions through anger, right?" He chuckled. "Don't worry, Raxmi, I get it," he said 'consolingly', leaning in closer. "Not all of us can express ourselves as straightforwardly as I do."

"What?! No!"

Axel laughed in a way that just infuriated me further. "See, you're getting angry again, aren't you?" he said, smirking. "Sooner or later, you'll just have to admit you're feelings to me, dear Raxmi."

I scowled and crossed my arms, which – _of course _– simply made him more amused. "Hey," he said softly, coming closer and pressing a hand on my arm, facing me to him, his startling green eyes looking into mine with a teasing glint in them. I blushed at how close we were, but didn't pull away. "You're not actually mad at me, are you?" he said.

"No," I whispered. He leaned in.

_Closer._

_Closer._

_Closer._

Unlike our first kiss, we were _both_ expecting this one.

Carefully, as though he might scare me away, Axel moved his gloved hand to my cheek as he slowly deepened the kiss, moving his lips in sync with mine. I had imagined kissing him before, and I always thought it would be so passionate and mind-numbing. But this was so much simpler than what I had pictured, and yet so much more complicated. How can one small action made me forget about the rest of the world?

All too quickly, he ended the kiss, and I scowled again. "What did you do that for?"

Axel looked faintly surprised. "You didn't want me to kiss you?"

I reached up and kissed him again. "I didn't want you to pull away," I mumbled, making him do that annoying smirk again before we went back to kissing again.

* * *

**Roxas's P.O.V**

I smiled sadly from the other side of the Tower as I watched Axel and Raxmi kissing. Was I happy that I had been friend-zoned? No, of course not. But my best friend is happy, and the girl I like is happy. '_What more could I ask for?'_ I thought, ignoring my feelings of regret.

* * *

**A/N: Somebody, anybody, **_**please**_** tell me Demyx's eye colour? I have no frickin' clue whether it's blue, or green, or teal, or cerulean, or cyan, or aqua, or whatever other blue-green colour there is. **_**Seriously**_**. There are so many damn colours to choose from. **

**By the way, this story is slowly making me a Roxas fangirl...**_**slowly but surely**_**. Thanks a lot, you guys. xP**

**Sigh. Why am I such a sucker for writing cheesy scenes? They're so...BLEUGH. Writing parts of this made me puke rainbows of cheesiness. The cheesiness disgusts me. I'm going to eat a sickly amount of chocolate after this to get rid of the cheesiness. YUP.**

**...I'm just looking for an excuse to eat chocolate, honestly.**

**So, they finally kissed properly! :D *dances around* Woohoo! Although not much happened in this chapter, so I'm pretty disappointed with myself. A lot more will happen in the next chapter, I promise! I have something planned~ *evil laugh***


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